Uber's bookings keep growing 20% as it buys back about half as much stock and borrows more

Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) reported on Wednesday that gross bookings rose 20% from a year earlier to $59.8 billion in the third quarter, according to its earnings release. Over the same quarter it spent $750 million on share repurchases, about half the $1.46 billion of a year earlier.

Growth held at 20% for a fifth quarter

Trips grew 16% to 4.1 billion, driven by 14% more monthly active platform consumers, the release said. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Uber "delivered its fifth consecutive quarter of 20%+ Gross Bookings growth."

Revenue grew 10% to $14.8 billion. Uber said business model changes reduced the year-on-year growth in revenue by 8 percentage points, so revenue grew more slowly than bookings.

Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, grew 31% to $3.0 billion, or 5.0% of gross bookings, up from 4.5% a year earlier. Free cash flow, defined as operating cash flow less capital expenditures, was $2.5 billion, up 14%.

Net income fell 92% on a one-off comparison

Net income attributable to Uber was $512 million, against $6.6 billion in the third quarter of 2025. Uber said the 2025 figure included a $4.9 billion benefit from a tax valuation release and a $1.5 billion pre-tax benefit from revaluing equity investments. The 2026 figure includes a $476 million pre-tax loss from revaluing equity investments.

Less stock bought back, more debt on the balance sheet

Repurchases of common stock in the quarter were $750 million, which is 48.7% less than the $1,463 million of the third quarter of 2025 (computed). Over nine months the gap is smaller: $4,279 million in 2026 against $4,611 million in 2025, a 7.2% decline (computed).

Long-term debt, net of its current portion, was $15,664 million on September 30, up from $10,521 million at the start of the year. That is an increase of $5,143 million, or 48.9% (computed). The release does not say what the new borrowing is for. Unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were $10.1 billion at the end of the quarter, and financing activities supplied $2,307 million of cash in the quarter, against $538 million used a year earlier.

Chief Financial Officer Balaji Krishnamurthy said: "We remain disciplined in capital allocation, maintaining a high bar for investments in our core businesses and autonomy to drive Uber's next phase of growth." Khosrowshahi said Uber is "investing from a position of strength to expand Mobility supply," and that about 700 fully driverless vehicles are expected on Uber by year-end and over 2,000 in 2027.

The fourth-quarter outlook

For the fourth quarter Uber expects gross bookings of $63.25 billion to $65.25 billion, growth of 18% to 22% in constant currency, and adjusted EBITDA of $3.13 billion to $3.23 billion. Guidance is the company's own and can change.

Growth is paid for out of the balance sheet, and the filing leaves the reason open

We think the quarter is a test of Uber's own phrase, "disciplined in capital allocation." Free cash flow of $2.5 billion covers the $750 million of repurchases several times over, so the extra $5.1 billion of long-term debt is not needed to fund them. The release does not say where that money goes, and that gap is what we would watch: we weigh free cash flow, debt and buybacks together, and this quarter they point in different directions.

The threat is spending on driverless vehicles and driver supply that outruns cash generation; the opportunity is that the same spending keeps bookings growing near 20% while margins widen. We expect the next two quarters to show which one it is: if adjusted EBITDA stays near the guided $3.13 billion to $3.23 billion while debt stops rising, the borrowing looks like a bridge. If debt keeps rising while repurchases stay low, the opposite reading gains weight. Either result would show up in the balance sheet before it shows up in bookings.

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