Uber grew faster than expected this past quarter.

The driving service has increased its sales significantly and also made progress in terms of earnings.

The bottom line, however, is that it has again posted a net loss, largely due to falls in the value of holdings.

Roland Lindner

Business correspondent in New York.

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The numbers were generally well received on the stock exchange, with the share price temporarily rising by 12 percent to $ 27.50 during trading on Tuesday.

By then, Uber stock had lost more than 40 percent of its value since the beginning of the year.

The price is also still well below the issue price of $45 at the IPO in 2019.

Uber's core business as a chauffeur service has weakened dramatically during the pandemic.

During this time, the division with food delivery provided a balance, and at times it became a larger source of sales.

In the meantime, the travel agency has recovered and is once again the biggest business.

One of the recent challenges here was finding enough drivers, and this bottleneck meant that trips were sometimes significantly more expensive and users had to wait longer before they were picked up.

Uber has increased the number of drivers again

Uber and competitors like Lyft have been forced to offer costly financial incentives to woo drivers.

Meanwhile, Uber sees itself back on the right track.

Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said Tuesday the growth in the number of drivers accelerated in the second quarter.

Uber now has almost five million drivers around the world, a good 30 percent more than a year ago.

The company is also trying to woo drivers not only with money, but also with improvements in their everyday work.

A few days ago, the company announced a number of innovations.

Drivers can now see how much they're making on a ride on the Uber app before accepting it.

You also have the option of selecting the trips that you think are the most attractive from a list of several requests.

Khosrowshahi said wait times are now at their lowest level in a year in the US and some other markets, and prices have also returned to normal.

Overall, Uber more than doubled its revenue to $8.1 billion in the second quarter.

Analysts had expected an average of $ 7.4 billion.

Part of the reason for the increase is the acquisition of Transplace, a logistics software provider that Uber has used to expand its freight division.

The growth was also higher because Uber changed how it books revenue in the UK.

This has to do with the fact that the company no longer classifies its local drivers as freelance service providers after a legal dispute, but as its own employees.

Uber's so-called bookings, i.e. the total income including the money paid out to drivers or restaurants, have increased by 33 percent in the past three months.

The ride service's net loss was $2.6 billion.

According to the company, this is partly due to write-downs on investments such as the Asian car service Grab, which was valued at $1.7 billion.

The operating result is of course still negative.

However, Uber highlights another metric, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, which was positive at $364 million.

For the first time, the transport service also reported positive cash flow (free cash flow).