Uber Technologies outperformed market expectations with a 20.1% revenue jump in the final quarter of 2025.
The ride-hailing giant reported total revenue of $14.37 billion for the period ending in December, slightly ahead of the $14.32 billion forecasted by analysts.
This robust performance was primarily fuelled by an explosive expansion in the company’s delivery business, which saw revenue climb 30% to $4.9 billion. By contrast, the core mobility segment grew by a steady 19%, generating $8.2 billion.
The shift toward delivery represents a strategic pivot as Uber diversifies beyond restaurant takeout into groceries and retail. High-profile partnerships with brands like Shopify, OpenTable and international retailers such as Loblaws and Coles have integrated Uber into the daily shopping habits of its 202 million monthly active users.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi noted that delivery growth reached its peak last year in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, signalling the global scale of this new retail frontier.
Meanwhile, Uber is positioning itself as the premier platform for robotaxis, having already seen accelerated trip growth in test markets such as Atlanta and Austin. The company plans to facilitate autonomous rides in up to 15 global cities by the end of 2026, including London, Munich and Hong Kong.
To further deepen user engagement, Uber is investing heavily in its Uber One subscription program as well as generative AI. New integrations with ChatGPT allow users to discover services and plan meals through conversational AI before completing their transactions.
A driver who works for both Lyft and Uber has a warning regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. They may be pulling people out of Lyft, Uber, and other ride-share programs to detain them in the near future. And, according to other videos that she cited, they may actually be signing up to be drivers.
In a video with over 195,000 views, TikToker Centearious (@coachcentearious) discussed what Phoenix ICE agents are doing to detain undocumented immigrants in the area. According to her, the viral claim that Lyft and Uber are co-opting “ICE agents becoming drivers” is unfounded, as both platforms would not know the agent’s employment through their approval process.
What did Centearious discuss in her TikTok video?
In Centearious’s video, she described a situation where a passenger was detained from her vehicle and taken away by an unmarked police cruiser. In this situation, actual law enforcement officials took away the passenger, not ICE. But, Centearious noted that this was an incident that could happen to undocumented citizens or non-citizens targeted by ICE agents.
She also noted that ICE agents don’t have to report their employment to Uber or Lyft. That effectively makes both platforms essentially blind to any “covert” ICE operations that may be occurring. Centearious emphasized that people shouldn’t blame the platforms, but rather, ICE agents themselves, saying, “If ICE agents are truly operating Lyfts and Ubers, it may hurt the bottom line for regular drivers.”
How does Lyft and Uber’s approval process work?
Lyft and Uber have incredibly similar approval processes for new drivers.
Both companies request a criminal background check and for drivers to provide identification for themselves. These processes don’t necessarily ask drivers for previous places of employment or additional information about current obligations.
Drivers have to fit Lyft and Uber’s individual requirements, but these are also incredibly similar. Both driving platforms have an age requirement, although Lyft’s driving age requirement changes depending on the area. Both require insurance checks and a minimum amount of driving experience (one year). Both platforms have zero stipulations regarding employment background.
That means that technically, ICE agents could apply to be Lyft or Uber drivers. But that doesn’t mean they can start detaining passengers from within the car. Rather, if this information is true, then agents are most likely engaging in long “ruses.” ICE agents are told to lie about their legal capacity and jurisdiction in order to gain entry and push forward on certain key points.
Considering ICE agents have lied about their identity before, it wouldn’t be surprising for an agent to sign up for a platform like Lyft or Uber to try to draw out information about a person’s residency. ICE agents usually show identification during arrests or detainment. Based on publicly available information, they don’t necessarily have to before.
How should people stay safe?
Centearious recommended checking any driver’s information before getting inside a vehicle. For instance, a brand-new driver may not be the safest person to ride with currently, especially if ICE agents are choosing to use the platform to gather information. Centearious recommended looking for seasoned Uber and Lyft drivers with thousands of rides rather than a few.
“ If it’s a brand new driver, cancel. You have up to the first two minutes. After two minutes, it charges you a cancellation fee,” Centearious said.
Vehicles owned by federal agencies may have unique license plates and identifiers or none at all. According to sources like OPB, agents commonly try to camouflage their license plates or hide identifiers. If you see a vehicle with a hidden identifier, then it may be best to avoid entering it.
There are also vehicles that ICE agents commonly operate, such as the Ford Police Interceptor Utility, certain Chryslers, and brands of Dodge vehicles. While it’s not necessarily proven that ICE may be driving one of these vehicles, there have been reports that they’re more likely to appear in them.
The Mary Sue reached out to Lyft, Uber, and the Immigration and Customs Department via email. We Centearious via TikTok direct message for more information.
A jury convicted an 83-year-old Ohio man of murder in the shooting of an Uber driver who he wrongly thought was trying to rob him after scam phone calls deceived them both.
William J. Brock fatally shot the driver after wrongly assuming she was in on a plot to get $12,000 in supposed bond money for a relative, authorities said.
The driver fell victim to the same scammer, driving to Brock’s home between Dayton and Columbus to pick up a package for delivery, according to investigators.
Brock shot the driver, 61-year-old Lo-Letha Toland-Hall of Dublin, a Columbus suburb, six times when she showed up at his home in March 2024, authorities said.
Brock, of South Charleston, was convicted of murder, felonious assault and kidnapping Wednesday. He is scheduled to be sentenced next week. A message seeking comment was left with his attorney.
The jury deliberated for about an hour before returning the verdict, CBS affiliate WHIO-TV reported.
In this image taken from Uber dashcam video released by the Clark County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office, William Brock, right, holds a weapon to Uber driver Loletha Hall outside his home in South Charleston, Ohio, on March 25, 2024.
Clark County Sheriff’s Office via AP
Brock’s attorney said the shooting was in self-defense and the scammer had made threats against him and his family. Brock testified during the trial that he felt threatened when the driver arrived at his house. He said he was so sure he would die that he grabbed his gun and ushered Hall out of his house, WHIO reported.
“After the first shot, she backed up a little more, and (I) don’t know what triggered it, but I shot at her shoulder,” he said, according to CBS affiliate WBNS. He said there was then “a little scuffle” over the door of a vehicle. “She got a hold of the door, slammed it into my head and that’s what injured me,” he said.
But prosecutors said Hall was unarmed and posed no threat when Brock shot her. Investigators said the driver was unaware of the scam call that Brock had received with threats and demands for money.
Clark County Prosecutor Daniel Driscoll told reporters after the verdict that both families lost loved ones because of the scam.
“The really sad part about this is that we know there are still criminals out there,” he said. “We know that the scammers, the folks who started this, haven’t been brought to justice.”
One year after Hall’s death, her estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit, seeking more than $25,000 in damages, WBNS reported.
A decorated RTD bus rolls down 15th Street during 9NEWS’ annual Parade of Lights downtown. Dec. 7, 2024.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Drunk and drugged driving can be a real temptation in the wee hours of New Year’s morning, after New Year’s Eve festivities have wrapped and sobriety is but a dream.
But there are life or death risks — and real consequences — with that, and the message is clear from officials across the state: Don’t do it.
“There are absolutely no safe levels of drinking or drug use when it comes to driving,” said Matthew Packard, chief of the Colorado State Patrol, in a statement. “We must stop convincing ourselves that we’re ‘OK to drive’ after a drink or two. If you feel different, you drive different. Plan ahead — because one bad decision can change lives forever.”
In that spirit, the Regional Transportation District is offering Zero Fare for New Year’s Eve.
From 7 p.m. on Dec. 31 through 7 a.m. on Jan. 1, all RTD rail and bus lines, Access-a-Ride and FlexRide will be free.
“Ring in the new year without worrying about how you will get home,” said RTD CEO Debra Johnson in a statement. “Thanks to RTD’s continued partnership with Molson Coors, the entire transit system will be fare-free on New Year’s Eve, so customers can focus on celebrating safely.”
And fair warning: There will also be two fireworks shows on 16th Street – one at 9 p.m. and one at midnight. Both will slow down the RTD’s 16th Street FreeRide, causing potential connection problems.
Final trains from Denver’s Union Station include the following:
A Line: 1 a.m.
B Line: 1:09 a.m.
D Line: 12:48 a.m.
E Line: 12:55 a.m.
G Line: 1:01 a.m.
N Line: 1:26 a.m.
W Line: 12:56 a.m.
As for buses, the final rides run as follows:
16th Street FreeRide:
Final departure from Union Station at 12:52 a.m.
Final departure from Civic Center Station at 1:20 a.m.
Services may be paused between 7 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. because of fireworks displays
Route 83L:
Departs Civic Center Station Gate 5 at 1:10 a.m., after which the station will close
Route 15:
Departs Union Station at 12:14 a.m. with the Union Station Bus Concourse closing at 12:45 a.m.
What if you miss your bus or train?
If your New Year’s Day partying goes far beyond midnight, you may need an alternate way to get home.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Uber, the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Colorado State Patrol are offering up to $8-off ride shares for people who use the code JOYFULCO25. To enter it, download the Uber app, go to the Account section, click on Wallet and scroll down to “Add Voucher Code.”
“The holidays should be a time of joy, not heartbreak,” said Uber spokesperson Stefanie Sass, in a statement. “By providing a reliable alternative to drinking and driving, we’re helping Coloradans make the responsible choice to get home safely.”
Joby Aviation(NYSE: JOBY) stock is up 73% over the last year and 326% over the last three years, and the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) company is seemingly on an inexorable pathway to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-type certification and commercial launch in 2026. As such, investors might be tempted to think that the stock is poised for a “buy the rumor, sell the news” moment after its eVTOL receives certification and launches commercially.
However, I think that would be a short-term approach. Here’s why.
Image source: Joby Aviation.
To understand why, you need to examine the company’s unique business model. Unlike its peers, such as Archer Aviation, Joby isn’t a company focused on being an eVTOL original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Instead, management plans to build what it calls a “vertically integrated transportation company that will deliver transportation services to customers, including government agencies such as the U.S. Air Force,” according to its SEC filings.
Consequently, its key milestones in the coming years are not just about achieving certification in 2026 and commercially launching; it also needs to establish itself as a transportation company. Consequently, there are many opportunities and pathways to growth for a company sometimes referred to as the “Uber of the Skies.”
The moniker is applicable, but it’s far from the complete story. Uber Technologies has invested $125 million in Joby and sold its air taxi division, Uber Elevate, to Joby in 2020. In addition, Joby will add the Blade air mobility business it acquired in the summer to Uber’s app.
However, Joby differs from its partner in that the company also manufactures the transportation equipment (eVTOLs) used in the service; that’s what management means by a vertically integrated transportation company.
The “vertical” approach doesn’t just apply to its transportation services strategy; Joby is also following a vertical manufacturing approach, whereby it’s building its eVTOLs in-house, with help from its partner and investor, Toyota, rather than sourcing from numerous external suppliers.
In theory, this approach will lead to a slower certification process as Joby isn’t leaning into aerospace companies with established expertise in the way that Archer Aviation, for example, is doing. However, the reality is that Joby is ahead in the certification race — an impressive achievement.
Image source: Getty Images.
All told, Joby is definitely not yesterday’s news. On the contrary, its partnerships with Uber and Delta Air Lines speak to its long-term future as a transportation services company, so anyone tempted to “sell on the news” of certification in 2026 may be acting prematurely.
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new video loaded: Uber Clears Violent Felons to Drive
Our reporter, Emily Steel, found that in many states, Uber’s guidelines allow people with serious criminal convictions to drive, as long as those convictions are more than seven years old. Some of those drivers have gone on to sexually assault or harass passengers.
By Emily Steel, Christina Shaman, Zach Caldwell, David Jouppi and Thomas Trudeau
December 22, 2025
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Emily Steel, Christina Shaman, Zach Caldwell, David Jouppi and Thomas Trudeau
Drivers with the New York Taxi Workers Alliance rally in support of legislation that would add job protections for app-based for-hire-vehicle drivers. Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025.
Credit: Gerardo Romo / NYC Council
The City Council approved on Thursday a pair of measures designed to bolster protections for app-based rideshare drivers and delivery workers against firings without recourse — known as “unfair deactivations.”
The body passed a measure that would add protections against unfair deactivations for for-hire vehicle drivers, Intro. 0276, by 40 to 7 votes with one abstention. It also approved legislation that would add safeguards for food delivery workers, Intro. 1332, by 40 to 8 votes.
Both bills aim to prevent unfair deactivations — a practice that drivers and delivery workers describe as sudden terminations without a stated reason or an independent appeals process in place.
The bills were passed during the final City Council stated meeting of the current session. Should outgoing Mayor Eric Adams veto the legislation, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams — who is also leaving office at the end of the year — said it will be up to the likely next speaker, Council Member Julie Menin, to override the mayor’s vetoes. Menin is expected to be elected speaker in early January, soon after the next session of the council is sworn in.
“This is just another step in trying to in trying to take care of the human beings behind this technology,” said outgoing Council Member Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn), the prime sponsor of the delivery worker bill.
“These are billion-dollar app companies, and the reason why they’re billion-dollar app companies is because of the workers that bring in these profits for them,” he added. “So I don’t think we’re asking much to treat them fairly, and that if someone is going to get fired, that there needs to be some sort of recourse.”
The legislation affecting for-hire-vehicle drivers — backed by the New York Taxi Workers’ Alliance — would place far more restrictions on how the companies that employ them, such as Uber and Lyft, can go about deactivating their accounts. It is designed to prevent drivers from being removed from the app without a clear reason, advance notice, or a means to appeal the decision.
During a news conference before the votes, City Council Member Shekar Krishnan (D-Queens), the lead sponsor of the for-hire-vehicle bill, said app companies can currently fire drivers “at any time, for any reason, and with no notice, cause or appeal process.” He added his bill “puts an end to unfair firings.”
City Council Member Shekar Krishnan rallied with Uber and Lyft drivers for his legislation aimed at strengthening their job protections. Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
The legislation would require app companies to give a stated reason for deactivating a driver — known as “just cause” place the burden of proof on them, mandate the firms give drivers 14 days’ notice before kicking them off the app, and institute an independent appeals process for drivers. The 14-day notice would apply to all drivers, except for those alleged to have committed account sharing, fraud, or gross misconduct — such as violence or sexual harassment.
Proponents of the bill also argue a new appeals process is needed because the only way for drivers to appeal the apps’ decisions currently is through the Independent Driver’s Guild, a group funded by Uber.
Uber spokesperson Josh Gold, in a statement, said the company opposes the for-hire-vehicle bill because it could have “devastating impacts on passenger safety.”
“Among other things, it forces rideshare apps to keep sending rides to drivers for up to 14 more days after a driver has already been told they’re being terminated, meaning New Yorkers could unknowingly get picked up by someone the company has already fired,” Gold said.
Lyft spokesperson CJ Macklin expressed a similar sentiment.
“It makes it harder for us to keep unsafe drivers off the platform, requires public sharing of sensitive victim information that will have a chilling effect on complaints, and places the city in the untenable position of defending individuals accused of misconduct against those they may have harmed,” Macklin said.
The other bill passed by the council would provide many of the same safeguards for deliveristas, who work for apps including Uber, DoorDash, Grubhub, Seamless, and Relay. It would also require app companies to provide a reason when reactivating deliveristas; give 120 days’ notice before permanently removing them; and institute an appeals process.
Gold said Uber does not oppose the legislation. Grubhub — which owns Relay and Seamless, DoorDash, and Instacart did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The attorneys general in D.C., Maryland and Virginia are suing Uber, accusing the rideshare app of having a “deceptive” subscription service, Uber One.
All three attorneys general in the D.C. region are suing Uber, accusing the rideshare app of taking advantage of consumers through its “deceptive” subscription service, Uber One.
Nineteen states, including Virginia, Maryland and D.C., filed a joint lawsuit with the Federal Trade Commission against Uber on Monday. The complaint says Uber didn’t follow through on advertised savings, charged consumers during their free trial periods, and signed up users for Uber One without their consent.
The lawsuit comes after the FTC sued Uber in April 2025 for its subscription service. This new amended complaint requests penalties for the app’s alleged violation of the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, which ensures that consumers fully understand the terms of a subscription service before signing up.
The new coalition allows the 21 states and D.C. to seek restitution for these alleged violations.
The lawsuit says Uber not only charged people for subscriptions that they never signed up for, but didn’t deliver on promised savings supposedly included in the subscription. The FTC said in a news release that users have reported they didn’t receive $0 delivery fees and $25 in monthly savings, two key discounts Uber One advertises.
Another major complaint is that Uber One allegedly signed up and charged consumers for the subscription service without their knowledge.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said these subscription violations are unacceptable, especially given the high cost of living.
“No one should ever be stuck paying for a subscription they do not want,” Schwab said in a news release. “We are joining this lawsuit to stop Uber’s deceptive and illegal conduct and to ensure that the more than 100,000 DC residents who are paying for Uber One subscriptions have an easy way to cancel if they no longer wish to use the service.”
Uber One offers a free trial, which the court filing claimed was breached. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said many users were charged for Uber One before their trial ended.
“Free trials should actually be free — not traps that lock Marylanders into unwanted monthly charges,” Brown said in a news release.
The lawsuit also says Uber made it extremely difficult to cancel Uber One subscriptions, stating that consumers had to go through 12 actions and seven different screens. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said these steps trapped consumers.
“Deceptive enrollment and billing practices have no place in the marketplace,” Miyares said in a news release.
In addition to D.C, Virginia and Maryland, the other states on the lawsuit are Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
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Rivian is putting AI in the driver’s seat. At an event on Thursday, the Palo Alto-based electric vehicle company unveiled a new AI assistant feature and teased details about the expanded self-driving tech it’s developing. Rivian’s AI-powered Rivian Assistant, which responds to the phrase “Hey Rivian” or can be activated via a button on the steering wheel, will be integrated with Google Calendar so it can show drivers their schedule, change a meeting time, and relay information to others.
“The assistant has memory, has context, it remembers the full story,” Wassym Bensaid, the company’s chief software officer, said during the event, after a live demonstration. “Who you are talking to, where you are going, and what you just searched for, and then it puts everything into a perfect message.” With these features, he added, Rivian will deliver an “AI-defined vehicle.”
The company also announced its forthcoming autonomous driving capabilities, which involve scenarios in which the driver can have their hands off the wheel but need to watch the road ahead, and eventually situations in which the driver can have their hands off the wheel and their eyes off the road. Coming down the pike next year is point-to-point travel, “in which the vehicle can drive address-to-address,” said Rivian founder and CEO, RJ Scaringe. “What that means is that you can get into the vehicle at your house, plug in the address to where you’re going, and the vehicle will completely drive you there.” When that happens, your hands can be off the wheel but you still need to be watching the road.
After that, he said, comes “eyes-off [driving], meaning you can navigate point-to-point with your hands off the wheel, but importantly, your eyes off the road. This gives you your time back. You can be on your phone, or reading a book—no longer needing to be actively involved in the operation of the vehicle.”
Rivian’s forthcoming R2 vehicle (pictured below) is expected to cost around $45,000 when it goes on sale next year, making it more affordable than the company’s R1T truck and R1S SUV. Both of those vehicles start at north of $70,000.
Scaringe also said that after the hands-off and eyes-off travel comes something more ambitious: an even greater level of autonomy approaching that of true self-driving vehicles, like in the ballpark of what Waymo already offers. “The next major step will be personal Level Four,” he said. “With this, the vehicle will operate entirely on its own. This means it can drop the kids off at school, it can pick you up at the airport.” Eventually, he said, “this also enables us to pursue opportunities in the ride-share space.”
Scaringe also said that the quantity of roads in North America that existing Rivian second-gen vehicles can drive in hands-off mode will expand after an over-the-air update. That will allow Rivians to handle over 3.5 million miles of roads in hands-off mode, he said.
India has granted legal status to millions of gig and platform workers under its newly implemented labor laws, marking a milestone for the country’s delivery, ride-hailing and e-commerce workforce — yet with benefits still unclear and platforms beginning to assess their obligations, access to social security remains out of reach.
The recognition stems from the Code on Social Security — one of four labor laws the Indian government brought into effect on Friday — more than five years after the parliament first passed them in 2020. It is the only part of the new framework that addresses gig and platform workers, as the remaining three codes — covering wages, industrial relations, and workplace safety — do not extend minimum earnings, employment protections or working-condition guarantees to this rapidly expanding workforce.
India has one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing gig economies, with industry estimates suggesting that more than 12 million people deliver food, drive ride-hailing cabs, sort e-commerce packages, and perform other on-demand services for digital platforms. The sector has become a critical source of employment, especially for young and migrant workers shut out of formal job markets, and is projected to expand further as companies scale logistics, retail, and hyperlocal delivery.
Companies from Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart to Indian quick-delivery apps such as Swiggy, Eternal’s Blinkit, and Zepto, as well as ride-hailing firms including Uber, Ola, and Rapido, rely on gig workers to run their businesses in the South Asian nation — the world’s second-largest internet and smartphone market after China. Yet despite powering some of India’s most valuable tech businesses, most gig workers operate outside traditional labor protections and lack access to basic social security.
The newly implemented labor laws are intended to change that, by defining gig and platform workers in statute and requiring aggregators, such as food-delivery and ride-hailing platforms, to contribute 1–2% of their annual revenue (capped at 5% of payments made to such workers) to a government-managed social security fund. But the details remain murky: what exact benefits will actually be offered, how workers will access them, and how contributions will be tracked across multiple platforms, and when payouts will begin all remain unclear, raising concerns that meaningful protections may take years to materialize.
A Zomato delivery boy moves through New DelhiImage Credits:Nasir Kachroo/NurPhoto / Getty Images
The Code on Social Security creates a legal framework for gig workers to be covered under schemes such as the Employees’ State Insurance, provident fund, and government-backed insurance. However, the extent of these benefits — including eligibility, contribution levels, and delivery mechanisms — remains unclear and will depend on future rules and scheme notifications.
A key part of the framework is the creation of Social Security Boards at both the central and state levels, tasked with designing and overseeing welfare schemes for gig and platform workers. The central board must include five representatives of gig and platform workers and five representatives of aggregators, all nominated by the government, alongside senior officials, experts, and state representatives, per the Code. But there is little clarity on how decisions will be made, how much influence worker representatives will actually have, or who will ultimately control decisions on funding and benefit delivery.
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“We need to wait and see what exactly is in the government’s mind when it comes to implementing the four Codes, and what it hopes to do for gig workers,” said Balaji Parthasarathy, a professor at IIIT Bangalore and principal investigator of the Fairwork India project. “And then we also have to see what the states translate on the ground.”
Parthasarathy noted that because labor policy in India is shared between the federal and state governments — listed in the “concurrent list” of the Indian Constitution — state governments are responsible for designing, notifying, and administering many of the schemes needed to make the Code on Social Security operational for gig workers.
That raises the possibility of uneven access, as some states move quickly to establish social security boards and roll out mechanisms, while others delay or deprioritize the effort due to political or fiscal constraints. Recent examples — such as Rajasthan’s stalled legislation after it was passed in 2023, and Karnataka’s Gig Workers Act, which was implemented soon after clearing the state assembly — underscore how workers’ protections may ultimately depend on where they live rather than the law itself.
Platform companies have publicly welcomed the reform, but are still largely evaluating what it will require of them. An Amazon India spokesperson told TechCrunch the company supports the Indian government’s intent behind the labor overhaul and is evaluating the changes it will need to introduce. A spokesperson for Zepto said the company welcomes the new labor codes as “a big step toward clearer, simpler rules that protect workers while supporting ease of doing business,” adding that the changes will help strengthen social security for its delivery partners without undermining the flexibility that quick-commerce operations rely on.
Food delivery firm Eternal, formerly known as Zomato, said in a stock exchange filing that the Social Security Code is a step toward more uniform rules and that it does not expect the financial impact to threaten its long-term business.
Nonetheless, Aprajita Rana, a partner at corporate law firm AZB & Partners, said the change “will naturally have a financial impact” on India’s e-commerce sector, as worker contributions are now being formalized. It will also create new compliance obligations, requiring companies to ensure all workers in their networks are registered with the government-managed fund, determine whether individuals are associated with multiple aggregators and how to avoid duplicative benefits, and set up internal grievance mechanisms.
“While the law has the right intent, gig worker structures in India are quite novel, and practical challenges in compliance will emerge as the law takes force,” Rana told TechCrunch.
One of the biggest hurdles for gig workers seeking benefits under the newly implemented law will be registering on the Indian government’s E-Shram portal, launched in 2021 as a national database of unorganized workers. The portal had registered more than 300,000 platform workers as of the end of August, even though the government estimates India’s gig workforce at around 10 million. Trade unions, including the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT), which has more than 70,000 members, are working to help gig workers enroll so they can access the benefits.
Ambika Tandon, a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge and an affiliate of the national trade union Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), said registering on the portal could mean lost wages for gig workers, since they would have to take time off to fill in required details.
“These workers work for 16 hours a day,” she told TechCrunch. “They don’t have time to go and register themselves on the government portal.”
CITU is also among the ten major Indian trade unions calling for the withdrawal of the new labor laws, ahead of nationwide protests planned for Wednesday.
The benefits of registering on the E-Shram portal are not compelling for many gig workers, Tandon noted, because the law does not address more immediate concerns such as fluctuating earnings, account suspensions, and sudden termination of accounts — issues that workers say matter far more right now than access to insurance or provident fund benefits.
Trade unions often organize strikes to push platforms to address these concerns directly. However, such actions can disrupt everyone involved, including consumers, and put workers at further risk, as they are not paid while striking and may even face termination for participating.
Swiggy workers protested in Kolkata in 2023Image Credits:NurPhoto / Contributor / Getty Images
“While the social security rules have now been put in place, we demand a minimum wage and an employer–employee relationship for gig and platform workers, which are yet to be set by the government,” said Shaik Salauddin, founder president of the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU), which has more than 10,000 members in the southern state of Telangana, and national general secretary of IFAT. “We urge the government to obtain data from aggregators and secure their monetary contributions to the fund to start offering benefits to workers.”
There is a broader debate over whether gig workers should be treated as employees — a question the new labor laws do not address. The Social Security Code defines gig and platform workers as a separate category, rather than extending them the rights and protections that come with employee status. In contrast, courts and regulators in markets such as the U.K., Spain, and New Zealand have moved toward recognizing platform workers as employees or “workers,” entitled to minimum wages, paid leave, and other benefits. In some U.S. jurisdictions, regulators and courts have pushed for platform workers to be treated as employees or similarly protected workers, though many ride-hail and delivery drivers remain classified as independent contractors.
“With this law, the Indian government has settled this debate by saying that these gig workers do not sit within the ambit of employment or other protections,” Tandon said.
The Indian labor ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Uber is apparently feeling generous this holiday season. The company is launching family sharing for Uber One members, allowing individuals to add another adult to their account for free. They can also include an unlimited number of teens.
Anyone added to the membership can access all of the same benefits, including free delivery. They will also earn unique credits for rides. You can attach someone to your membership by clicking Account and then Uber One. From there, you can tap manage membership and then family sharing.
Uber
Uber is also giving members additional perks, like prioritized complimentary upgrades. The company claims that it will upgrade over one million rides for members between December 2 and 25. Plus, members traveling between today and Thursday for Thanksgiving should get 10 percent off if booking an Uber Black to or from an airport.
Tech lovers with an Uber One subscription will be happy to hear that you can get early access to $25 off if you spend $75 or more at Best Buy — through Uber Eats, of course.
Joe Kiniry, a security expert specializing in elections, was attending an annual conference on voting technology in Washington, DC, when a woman approached him with an unusual offer. She said she represented a wealthy client interested in funding voting systems that would encourage bigger turnouts. Did he have any ideas? “I told her you should stay away from internet voting, because it’s really, really hard,” he says.
Later he learned who had sent her. It was Bradley Tusk, a New York City political consultant and fixer for companies like Uber fending off regulation. He’d made a fortune doing that (early Uber stock helped a lot), and he was eager to spend a good chunk of it pursuing online voting technology. Tusk convinced Kiniry to work with him. At the very least, Kiniry thought, it would be a valuable research project.
Today Tusk is showing off the fruits of that collaboration. His Mobile Voting Foundation is releasing VoteSecure, a cryptography-based protocol that seeks to help people securely cast their votes on iPhones and Androids. The protocol is open source and available on GitHub for anyone to test, improve upon, and build out. Two election technology vendors have already committed to using it—perhaps as early as 2026. Tusk claims that mobile voting will save our democracy. But getting it accepted by legislators and the public will be the really, really hard part.
Primary Numbers
Tusk has been obsessed with mobile voting for a while. Around 2017, he began taking serious action, funding small elections that used existing technology to allow deployed military or disabled people to vote. He estimates he’s dropped $20 million so far and plans to keep shoveling cash into the effort. When I ask why, he explains that working with the government has given him a panoramic view of its failures. Tusk believes there is a single pressure point that could fix a number of mismatches between what the public deserves and what they get: more people using the ballot box. “We get lousy, or corrupt, government because so few people vote, especially in off-year elections and primaries, where the turnout is dismal,” he says. “If primary turnout is 37 percent instead of 9 percent, the underlying political incentives for an elected official to change—it pushes them to the middle, and they’re not rewarded for screaming and pointing fingers.”
To Tusk, mobile voting is a no-brainer: We already do banking, commerce, and private messages on our phones, so why not cast a ballot? “If I don’t do it, who is going to do it?” he asks. Furthermore, he says, “if it doesn’t happen, I don’t think we’re one country in 20 years, because if you are unable to solve any single problem that matters to people, eventually they decide not to keep going.”
Tusk had Kiniry evaluate existing online voting platforms—including some that Tusk himself had paid for. “Joe is considered the absolute expert on electronic voting,” says Tusk. So when Kiniry deemed those systems insufficient, Tusk decided that the best way forward was to start from scratch. He hired Kiniry’s company, Free & Fair, to develop VoteSecure. It’s not a turnkey solution but a backend part of a system that will require a user interface and other pieces to be operable. The protocol includes a means for voters to check the accuracy of their ballots and verify that their vote has been received by the election board and transferred to a paper ballot.
Tusk says his next step is to “run legislation” in a few cities to allow mobile voting. “Start small—city council, school board, maybe mayor,” he says. “Prove the thesis. The odds of Vladimir Putin hacking the Queensborough election seems pretty remote to me.” (Next spring some local election elections in Alaska will offer the option of mobile-phone voting with software developed by Tusk’s foundation.) Kiniry agrees it’s way too soon to use mobile voting in national elections, but Tusk is betting that eventually the systems become familiar, to the point where people trust them much more than traditional paper ballots. “Once the genie’s out of the bottle, they can’t put it back, right?” he says. “That’s been true for every tech I’ve worked on.” But first the genie has to get out of the bottle. That’s no cinch.
Crypto Foes
The loudest objections against mobile or internet voting come from cryptographers and security experts, who believe that the safety risks are insurmountable. Take two people who were at the 2017 conference with Kiniry. Ron Rivest is the legendary “R” in the RSA protocol that protects the internet, a winner of the coveted Turing Award, and a former professor at MIT. His view: Mobile voting is far from ready for prime time. “What you can do with mobile phones is interesting, but we’re not there yet, and I haven’t seen anything to make me think otherwise,” he says, “Tusk is driven by trying to make this stuff happen in the real world, which is not the right way to do it. They need to go through the process of writing a peer-reviewed paper. Putting up code doesn’t cut it.”
Computer scientist and voting expert David Jefferson is also unimpressed. Though he acknowledges that Kiniry is one of the country’s top voting system experts, he sees Tusk’s effort as doomed. “I’m willing to concede rock-solid cryptography, but it does not weaken the argument about how insecure online voting systems are in general. Open source and perfect cryptography do not address the most serious vulnerabilities.”
Uber has quietly begun piloting in-app video recording for its drivers in India, TechCrunch has learned and confirmed with the company. The tool is meant to deter misconduct in a market where most drivers do not use dashcams, according to Uber.
Half a dozen Uber drivers in the Delhi–NCR region told TechCrunch they sometimes face misconduct from riders and, in some cases, are threatened with false complaints about their behavior — allegations that can lead to penalties or even account suspensions.
“Even female passengers traveling late at night insist that we follow the route they want instead of what’s shown on the map. If we refuse, they threaten to file false complaints,” said one driver, who requested anonymity out of fear of losing his account.
Drivers said the in-app video recording feature could help protect them in such situations by providing evidence when disputes arise. Still, some questioned whether Uber would back them in cases involving riders, noting that passengers pay for the trip and can easily switch to competing platforms if dissatisfied.
The pilot, which began rolling out in phases in May, is now live in 10 cities across India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Lucknow, the company confirmed to TechCrunch.
Riders receive an in-trip notification when video recording is active.
Uber’s notification for in-app video recordingImage Credits:Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch
“All recordings are double-encrypted, stored on the device, and cannot be accessed by anyone — including Uber — unless a user chooses to share them as part of a safety report,” an Uber spokesperson said, adding that the recordings are automatically deleted after a week if they are not shared.
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The video tool builds on Uber’s in-app audio recording feature, which launched in India in 2023. Video recording was first tested in the U.S. in 2022 and is already available in Canada and Brazil.
As the pilot expands, Uber will have to balance the feature’s potential to defuse disputes with broader questions about privacy and surveillance in one of its prominent markets. It is unclear when the video recording tool will be rolled out more widely, though the pilot’s performance in the coming months is likely to shape whether Uber extends it across India or to other regions.
On top of its sprawling ride-share and delivery service empire, Uber now also wants to be an AI company.
The company’s third quarter earnings call on Tuesday morning was evidence of this, as Uber executives shared all the ways that they were hoping to drive earnings growth for the company. Two of the five core strategic areas that executives will be focusing on are AI-related.
The first one is a recently announced pilot program that allows the drivers and couriers using the app to make a couple extra bucks by training AI models. Uber users will now be able to complete and get compensated for micro-tasks like uploading photos, annotating security footage, recording themselves speaking in their native language, submitting documents, or judging responses. The feature is called “Digital Tasks” and is currently only available to drivers and couriers in India and the United States, but executives plan to expand the user base, hoping even to attract users beyond current Uber drivers and couriers.
“Some of the roles require PhDs, for example, in physics, in order to get the gig done, so to speak,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in the earnings call.
The initiative is a part of Uber AI Solutions, the company’s AI data services business. Khosrowshahi said that the business is “landing a ton of customers.”
It might seem like an odd pivot for a transportation and logistics focused tech platform, but it is all a part of the company’s main goal of making Uber an everything app for both transportation and “flexible” work.
“Another way of looking at our platform is that we’re a platform for work, and the first kind of work that we have gone after is transportation. But we can empower other kinds of work as well, which is what Uber AI Solutions is all about,” Khosrowshahi said.
The second way that Uber is hoping to use AI to drive earnings is through autonomous vehicles and it has everything to do with Uber’s ambitions to be an everything app for transportation. Uber wants to integrate “human drivers and autonomous vehicles into a single marketplace,” Khosrowshahi said.
As a result, Uber is going all-in on robotaxis. Last week, the company announced that it will be partnering with Nvidia to build a fleet of 100,000 robotaxis, that will start its build-out in 2027.
In the earnings call, Khosrowshahi admitted that autonomous vehicles are not yet profitable, and likely won’t be for at least a few more years.
Beyond the issue of a lag in profitability, robotaxis are also riddled with safety concerns. Just last week, a beloved bodega cat in San Francisco was killed after being hit by a vehicle belonging to the robotaxi giant Waymo. The incident caused public outrage and pushed a city supervisor to call for legislation that would allow counties to be able to ban autonomous vehicles.
The timing for that couldn’t have been worse for Uber, which just last week announced that it would begin testing robotaxis in San Francisco in partnership with electric vehicle company Lucid Motors and autonomous vehicle maker Nuro.
But despite all that, the Uber chief was still optimistic about the technology’s future. He suggested that ten years from now, “every single new car sold” will have autonomous abilities.
“That is a very bright future for the world, because it will make the world safer,” he said.
ENGLEWOOD — Metro Denver budtender Quentin Ferguson needs Regional Transportation District bus and trains to reach work at an Arvada dispensary from his house, a trip that takes 90 minutes each way “on a good day.”
“It is pretty inconvenient,” Ferguson, 22, said on a recent rainy evening, waiting for a nearly empty train that was eight minutes late.
He’s not complaining, however, because his relatively low income and Medicaid status qualify him for a discounted RTD monthly pass. That lets him save money for a car or an electric bicycle, he said, either of them offering a faster commute.
Then he would no longer have to ride RTD.
His plight reflects a core problem of lagging ridership that RTD directors increasingly run up against as they try to position the transit agency as the smartest way to navigate Denver. Most other U.S. public transit agencies, too, are grappling with a version of this problem.
In Colorado, state-government-driven efforts to concentrate the growing population in high-density, transit-oriented development around bus and train stations — a priority for legislators and Gov. Jared Polis — hinge on having a swift public system that residents ride.
But transit ridership has failed to rebound a year after RTD’s havoc in 2024, when operators disrupted service downtown for a $152 million rail reconstruction followed by a systemwide emergency maintenance blitz to smooth deteriorating tracks that led to trains crawling through 10-mph “slow zones.”
The latest ridership numbers show an overall decline this year, by at least 3.9%, with 40 million fewer riders per year compared with six years ago. And RTD executives’ newly proposed, record $1.3 billion budget for 2026 doesn’t include funds for boosting bus and train frequency to win back riders.
Frustrations intensified last week.
“What is the point of transit-oriented development if it is just development?” said state Rep. Meg Froelich, a Democrat representing Englewood who chairs the House Transportation, Housing and Local Government Committee. “We need reliable transit to have transit-oriented development. We have cities that have invested significant resources into their transit-oriented communities. RTD is not holding up its end of the bargain.”
At a retreat this past summer, a majority of the RTD’s 15 elected board members agreed that boosting ridership is their top priority. Some who reviewed the proposed budget last week questioned the lack of spending on service improvements for riders.
“We’re not moving the needle. Ridership is not going up. It should be going up,” director Karen Benker said in an interview.
“Over the past few years, there’s been a tremendous amount of population growth. There are so many apartment complexes, so much new housing put up all over,” Benker said. “Transit has to be relied on. You just cannot keep building more roads. We’re going to have to find ways to get people to ride public transit.”
Commuting trends blamed
RTD Chief Executive and General Manager Debra Johnson, in emailed responses to questions from The Denver Post, emphasized that “RTD is not unique” among U.S. transit agencies struggling to regain ridership lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnson blamed societal shifts.
“Commuting trends have significantly changed over the last five years,” she said. “Return-to-work numbers in the Denver metro area, which accounted for a significant percentage of RTD’s ridership prior to March 2020, remain low as companies and businesses continue to provide flexible in-office schedules for their employees.”
In the future, RTD will be “changing its focus from primarily providing commuter services,” she said, toward “enhancing its bus and services and connections to high-volume events, activity centers, concerts and festivals.”
But agency directors are looking for a more aggressive approach to reversing the decline in ridership. And some are mulling a radical restructuring of routes.
Funded mostly by taxpayers across a 2,345 square-mile area spanning eight counties and 40 municipalities — one of the biggest in the nation — RTD operates 10 rail lines covering 114 miles with 84 stations and 102 bus routes with 9,720 stops.
“We should start from scratch,” said RTD director Chris Nicholson, advocating an overhaul of the “geometry” of all bus routes to align transit better with metro Denver residents’ current mobility patterns.
The key will be increasing frequency.
“We should design the routes how we think would best serve people today, and then we could take that and modify it where absolutely necessary to avoid disruptive differences with our current route map,” he said.
Then, in 2030, directors should appeal to voters for increased funding to improve service — funds that would be substantially controlled by municipalties “to pick where they want the service to go,” he said.
Reversing the RTD ridership decline may take a couple of years, Nicholson said, comparing the decreases this year to customers shunning a restaurant. “If you’re a restaurant and you poison some guests accidentally, you’re gonna lose customers even after you fix the problem.”
The RTD ridership numbers show an overall public transit ridership decrease by 5% when measured over the 12-month period from August 2024 through July 2025, the last month for which staffers have made numbers available, compared with the same period a year ago.
Bus ridership decreased by 2% and light rail by 18% over that period. In a typical month, RTD officials record around 5 million boardings — around 247,000 on weekdays.
The precautionary rail “slow zones” persisted for months as contractors worked on tracks, delaying and diverting trains, leaving transit-dependent workers in a lurch. RTD driver workforce shortages limited deployment of emergency bus shuttles.
This year, RTD ridership systemwide decreased by 3.9% when measured from January through July, compared with that period in 2024. The bus ridership this year has decreased by 2.4%.
On rail lines, the ridership on the relatively popular A Line that runs from Union Station downtown to Denver International Airport was down by 9.7%. The E Line light rail that runs from downtown to the southeastern edge of metro Denver was down by 24%. Rail ridership on the W Line decreased by 18% and on R Line by 15%, agency records show.
The annual RTD ridership has decreased by 38% since 2019, from 105.8 million to 65.2 million in 2024.
A Regional Transportation District light rail train moves through downtown Denver on Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Light rail ‘sickness’ spreading
“The sickness on RTD light rail is spreading to other parts of the RTD system,” said James Flattum, a co-founder of the Greater Denver Transit grassroots rider advocacy group, who also serves on the state’s RTD Accountability Committee. “We’re seeing permanent demand destruction as a consequence of having an unreliable system. This comes from a loss of trust in RTD to get you where you need to go.”
RTD officials have countered critics by pointing out that the light rail’s on-time performance recovered this year to 91% or better. Bus on-time performance still lagged at 83% in July, agency records show.
The officials also pointed to decreased security reports made using an RTD smartphone app after deploying more police officers on buses and trains. The number of reported assaults has decreased — to four in September, compared with 16 in September 2024, records show.
Greater Denver Transit members acknowledged that safety has improved, but question the agency’s assertions based on app usage. “It may be true that the number of security calls went down,” Flattum said, “but maybe the people who otherwise would have made more safety calls are no longer riding RTD.”
RTD staffers developing the 2026 budget have focused on managing debt and maintaining operations spending at current levels. They’ve received forecasts that revenues from taxpayers will increase slightly. It’s unclear whether state and federal funds will be available.
RTD directors and leaders of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, an environmental group, are opposing the rollback of RTD’s planned shift to the cleaner, quieter electric hybrid buses and taking on new debt for that purpose.
Colorado lawmakers will “push on a bunch of different fronts” to prioritize better service to boost ridership, Froelich said.
The legislature in recent years directed funds to help RTD provide free transit for riders under age 20. Buses and trains running at least every 15 minutes would improve both ridership and safety, she said, because more riders would discourage bad behavior and riders wouldn’t have to wait alone at night on often-empty platforms for up to an hour.
“We’re trying to do what we can to get people back onto the transit system,” Froelich said. “They do it in other places, and people here do ride the Bustang (intercity bus system). RTD just seems to lack the nimbleness required to meet the moment.”
Denver Center for the Performing Arts stage hand Chris Grossman walks home after work in downtown Denver on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
Riders switch modes
Meanwhile, riders continue to abandon public transit when it doesn’t meet their needs.
For Denver Center for the Performing Arts theater technician Chris Grossman, 35, ditching RTD led to a better quality of life. He had to move from the Virginia Village neighborhood he loved.
Back in 2016, Grossman sold his ailing blue 2003 VW Golf when he moved there in the belief that “RTD light rail was more or less reliable.” He rode nearly every day between the Colorado Station and downtown.
But trains became erratic as maintenance of walls along tracks caused delays. “It just got so bad. I was burning so much money on rideshares that I probably could have bought a car.” Shortly before RTD announced the “slow zones” last summer, he moved to an apartment closer to downtown on Capitol Hill.
He walks or rides scooters to work, faster than taking the bus, he said.
Similarly, Honor Morgan, 25, who came to Denver from the rural Midwest, “grateful for any public transit,” said she had to move from her place east of downtown to be closer to her workplace due to RTD transit trouble.
Buses were late, and one blew by her as she waited. She had to adjust her attire when riding her Colfax Avenue route to Union Station to manage harassment. She faced regular dramas of riders with substance-use problems erupting.
Morgan moved to an apartment near Union Station in March, allowing her to walk to work.
She still hoped to rely on RTD for concerts and nightlife, and to reach DIA for work-related flights at least once a month. But RTD social media posts have alerted her to enough delays on the A Line that she no longer trusts it, she said. To reduce her “anxiety” and minimize the risk of missing her flights, she shells out for rides — even though these often get stuck in traffic.
She and her boyfriend recently tried RTD again, riding a train to the 38th and Blake Station near the Mission Ballroom. They attended “an amazing concert” there, she said, and felt happy as they walked to the station to catch the train home.
A man on the platform collapsed backward, hitting his head. He was bleeding. She called 911. Her boyfriend and other riders gathered. She ran across the street to an apartment building and grabbed paper towels. RTD isn’t really to blame, but “I just wish they had a station platform attendant, or someone. I do not know head-injury first aid,” Morgan said.
The train they’d been waiting for came and went. An ambulance arrived. They got home late, the evening ruined, she said.
“His head cracked open. He had skin flaps hanging off his head. This was stuck in my head, at least for the rest of the night.”
A new digital tasks program will be piloted for U.S. Uber drivers this year. Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The life of an Uber driver often involves stretches of downtime—waiting on ride requests or charging an electric vehicle’s battery. To make the most of those idle moments, Uber is launching a pilot program that allows drivers and couriers to make extra money by completing digital tasks that train A.I. models for Uber’s enterprise clients.
“Drivers have asked for more ways to earn, even when they’re not on the road,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement. To address this request, drivers will soon be able to opt in for quick, in-app tasks ranging from uploading documents—such as restaurant menus or receipts—to providing everyday images and recording audio samples.
The pilot will launch later this fall as part of Uber’s AI Solutions Group, a division created last November to offer data-labeling services to other businesses. Its client list includes Aurora, a self-driving software developer; Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go; and Luma AI, a text-to-video generator. Until now, Uber AI Solutions has relied on independent gig workers to complete data-labeling tasks. The new program shifts those assignments to Uber’s own network of drivers and couriers, giving them access to additional income streams directly through the Driver app.
In addition to the upcoming U.S. launch, Uber has already been testing the initiative in more than 12 cities in India. “Until now, these tasks were completed by independent contractors outside the app,” said Megha Yethadka, the global head of Uber AI Solutions, in a September LinkedIn post describing the Indian pilot as “very promising.”
Before accepting a task, drivers will be able to see the expected pay rate and estimated completion time. They can only take on digital tasks while not actively signed in to drive or deliver for Uber.
Khosrowshahi first discussed Uber’s plans to introduce digital tasks at the Bloomberg Tech Summit in June, where he laid out a strategy to expand income opportunities of drivers and couriers over the next five to ten years. He described the data-labeling effort as a form of “knowledge work” emerging from the A.I. era and a way to provide new job options even as automation and autonomous vehicles threaten traditional driving roles.
Uber announced the digital tasks initiative yesterday (Oct. 16) during its annual Only on Uber event, which highlights new features inspired by driver and courier feedback. Other updates unveiled at the event included a new heat map tool showing demand hotspots, a rider rating filter that allows drivers to screen trip requests, and a delayed-ride guarantee offering extra pay when trips take longer than estimated.
Uber also announced an expansion of its women rider preference feature, which lets female drivers accept rides only from women passengers—a setting that has been used for more than 150 million trips and is activated weekly by one in four female drivers.
CEO Ed Bastian said Delta has so far been unaffected by the U.S. government shutdown. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Between the U.S. government shutdown and ongoing economic uncertainty, it’s a turbulent time for airlines. But not for Delta, the largest American airline by market capitalization, which has emerged from the industry’s recent challenges largely unscathed as its investment in high-end travel begins to pay off.
Delta shares jumped more than 4 percent today (Oct. 9) after the Atlanta-headquartered airline reported better-than-expected revenue and profit for the July-September quarter. Quarterly sales reached $15.2 billion, up 4.1 percent year-over-year, while net income rose 11 percent to $1.42 billion. Strong demand for premium travel helped lift results: sales in Delta’s premium unit climbed 9 percent to $5.8 billion, even as main cabin revenue dipped 4 percent to $6 billion.
The airline could soon earn more from premium seating than from economy for the first time. Delta had previously forecast that milestone for 2027, but it may now happen as early as next year, according to the airline’s president, Glen Hauenstein. “We see that there are many, many more opportunities in premium in the coming years,” he told analysts today.
Some of those opportunities lie in Delta’s key markets like Los Angeles, Boston, New York and Seattle due to their concentration of a “considerable amount of premium” customers, CEO Ed Bastian said on today’s call.
The airline is also expanding its high-end offerings by outfitting nearly 1,000 aircraft with free WiFi and deepening partnerships with American Express, Uber and YouTube. Delta has even ventured into retail through collaborations like its recent lounge set project with Spanx.
Rebounding from the ‘spring swoon’
Back in March, things looked less promising when Delta slashed its profit forecast amid economic concerns tied to the Trump administration’s tariffs. The company refers to that period as the “spring swoon.” Since then, Delta has rebounded and offered stronger-than-expected guidance for the fourth quarter of 2025, projecting total revenue growth between 2 and 4 percent over the next three months.
Meanwhile, the U.S. travel industry faces headwinds from the federal government shutdown that began in early October. Flights across the country have been delayed as Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) facilities report staffing shortages. The country has also seen a “slight tick-up in sick calls” from air traffic controllers—who, like other essential workers, are expected to work without pay during the shutdown, said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy at a recent press conference.
Delta has weathered shutdowns before. During the 35-day federal shutdown that began in 2018, the airline lost about $1 million per day in revenue, Hauenstein said. This time, the impact has been smaller, in part because Delta is less dependent on the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport—one of the hubs most affected by staffing disruptions.
“While we are monitoring potential impacts from the U.S. government shutdown, we have not seen a material effect to date,” added Hauenstein.
Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER – Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,025 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock, valued at approximately $96,000.
Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Nova Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Uber Technologies by 41.0% in the 1st quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 430 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Uber Technologies by 39.8% in the 2nd quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 446 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Uber Technologies by 0.9% in the first quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 14,139 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of Uber Technologies by 1.3% during the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 10,956 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $798,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Uber Technologies by 42.1% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 466 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. 80.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
UBER has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Uber Technologies from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $106.00 price objective (up previously from $96.00) on shares of Uber Technologies in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Uber Technologies from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Uber Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Uber Technologies from $101.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $104.03.
In other news, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi sold 150,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.48, for a total value of $15,072,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 982,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $98,726,021.12. This trade represents a 13.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jill Hazelbaker sold 31,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.42, for a total transaction of $3,013,125.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 86,531 shares in the company, valued at $8,343,319.02. This trade represents a 26.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 601,821 shares of company stock valued at $58,659,491. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.
Uber Technologies Price Performance
Uber Technologies stock opened at $96.53 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44 and a beta of 1.48. Uber Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $59.33 and a one year high of $101.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $93.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.23.
Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. Uber Technologies had a return on equity of 59.96% and a net margin of 26.68%.The business had revenue of $12.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Uber Technologies, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.
Uber Technologies, Inc develops and operates proprietary technology applications in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia excluding China and Southeast Asia. It operates through three segments: Mobility, Delivery, and Freight. The Mobility segment connects consumers with a range of transportation modalities, such as ridesharing, carsharing, micromobility, rentals, public transit, taxis, and other modalities; and offers riders in a variety of vehicle types, as well as financial partnerships products and advertising services.
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