Uber continues to “penetrate” into the corporate space, according to CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on a third-quarter earnings call. He said Uber for Business, the mobility company’s corporate arm, was “ very , very promising” in terms of its development through technologies like machine learning.
With Uber for Business, said Khosrowshahi, the company is looking at verticals like health and transit that “hold a ton of promise”. He said that travel “is something that’s very much in my heart because of my old Expedia days.”(Khosrowshahi previously served as CEO of Expedia.)
Khosrowshahi noted that despite some pessimistic projections about corporate travel demand, the company is seeing a bit of acceleration in Uber for Business, “which is quite encouraging going forward.”
In Uber’s corporate structure, Uber for Business is included in non-UberX products along with Uber Reserve, “hailables” —such as taxis—and shared rides. That segment’s demand grew more than 80% year over year during the quarter and generated $9 billion in annualized bookings, according to the company.
Uber also now accounts for “one out of four legs” for airport-related rides, meaning to and from the airport on each end of the trip, Khosrowshahi said increased penetration at the airport is “absolutely a significant opportunity, and we’re very early in that penetration.”