Streaming, Uber, And Taiwan (Podcast)

know the stocks. I used to follow the big social media companies and Google's and facebooks in the world, so I always continue to keep an interest in that Pinterest. What was the biggest deal By the way, what was the biggest deal you did as an investment banker? A well buying time warner? We represented a well Okay, so that's the same wheelhouse. And I always think about the radio I did all the radio. Those were fun. Those were fun. That's why I love being in the radio business.

But I look at Pinterest. I'm not a user, um, but it's a thing. I get it. They put up some good numbers, stock up twelve percent, but I look it around the digital advertising space and I saw some serious hiccups here. So I want to get a sense of what's going on out there. So fortunately we have Mark Douglas live in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio, not phoning it in like a certain interest rate analyst time. I know, Marcus the CEO and Mountain um Mark. We've

had Google, We've had Facebook. I'm not going to use the medicine. This is a meta free yes, so but you know, but I see snap, I see Pinterest. Is these is the I guess secular growth of digital advertising because that story kind of playing out or do we still have room to grow? Um, it's not playing out. I think the way to think about it. And this goes for your personal finances. This goes for investing. Is

everything that's closest to the consumer. The consumer making a purchase is going to do very well in tough times, and everything furthest Away is going to struggle. So like in in digital advertising, Roku is furthest Away brand ads, you know, not really at the point of purchase. Google is close, Pinterest is actually very close to the radio radio is closed. And so it goes also for other categories streaming television. You know that that the first three

streaming services you like, you're gonna keep paying. If you're number five on that list, as a consumer, you're gonna be like, I'm cutting something right, and so you're gonna cut that off. It goes for everything, and so digital

advertising is fine. You just have to focus on the companies that are closest to the point of purchase and what are you seeing in terms of the clients that you work with, what are they doing to increase their reach to the consumer at closer Yes, so they're generally reevaluating where they're spending, and then the things that are

doing well for them, they actually increasing spend. So those are those categories we all know, paid search, paid social, um, the and then those things again there furthest away they're they're taking spend away from that and be us they just literally can't afford it, or at least can't afford the risk if the economy struggles a bit more. Right, So that's a that's a cyclical issue. It sounds to me the secular story of just growth and digital advertising.

Are those days kind of behind us here? Or do we Because I've got Google, I've got Facebook, and I guess I've got Amazon as my big three digital advertisers, can they combined continue to drive this market on Yeah, I mean, well Google and Meta uh we agree with a gun call of Facebook already fell off that chair. And we also don't say alphabet, so you know, alright, I'm on that train. Um no pun intended as in New York. But no, they they obviously just have incredible scales.

So at that scale, at ten percent growth, those are still really really big growth numbers. Amazon is on fire in terms of their business, both the advertising business and AWS which essentially almost funding that a retail business at least from a profitability perspective, and so I think those

are good. But the you know, the the area men streaming television continuing to grow obviously fake um Netflix, I should say obviously Netflix is you know, they have like consumer market share in the US and it's just kind of hard to grow from that. But I think the overall streaming market, this transition from old school linear television

cable to streaming, that's not slowing down, that's continuing. How many how many of streamers do you think will be I don't know left standing at the end of this. I mean, is it is it three, is it five? Is it the fifty we had on cable TV or well, there's a consolidation going on right now. When you look at the television industry, the biggest companies are like half the market. So I'm talking like Disney, which people forget also owns ABC on ESPN on like, has all these properties.

And then you look at Discovering Networks and they have merged with Time Warner I believe, right, And so the the your have a consolidation underway. It's just kind of happening under a bit below the surface because people are not paying attention to it. So I think you're gonna wind up with just a relatively small number very large players, you know, kind of focused on that market, but in

a new way because consumers are watching TV. On the subway, they're watching it and back at taxis they obviously still watching it at home everywhere with the sound up. By the way, but by the way, um, okay, you can be honest with me. Here as we watch Nancy Pelosi get off of her plane, Greg Jarrett says, it looks like a seven two A I'm a pilot, by the way, Oh yeah, I'll try to call that way. I would

agree with the seven seven from from the shot. I'm thing right now as we watch that, and I'm not really necessarily I don't have anything to say about this because we already saw her land. It looks like she's safe, everything's cool, and the markets have breathed a side of relief. But does news? Howse news doing? In terms of television? Obviously, streaming news is kind of a silly thing because you want it right away, live, right But I don't. For example, I don't even have cable TV at all at my

house television. I mean, I watched Bloomberg on the Apple TV, but I don't watch other kinds of news. Are peeple, do people watch CNN, MSNBC, Fox, Bloomberg? Are they? Are they paying for that? Are we? Are we losing money as a loss leader for for Mike over there? Ye? Also, I think most people are watching the news via their um Instagram account and their TikTok accounts. Scary, that's really scary. So I think that's most people's number one news source.

You know. Obviously I think you're trying to give me in trouble here. No, no, But you make a good point, you know. I remember I was talking to a barista a couple of months ago and she hadn't gotten her vaccine. I asked her why and she said, because she saw on the news that it can paralyze you get the vaccine. I said, what news were you watching? She said, oh, I saw it on TikTok. That was her news, the

vaccine paralyzed. Yeah. By the way, that isn't true, right, but but but yeah, I mean obviously CNN has is struggling right now. I think Fox knows who their audience is, and they have a very engaged audience and and also an audience the weird news is part. Yeah. I I actually owned some land in Kentucky, so I know the middle of America, and all they want to know about is Hunter Biden and see like California man fights off

store roberts Um twenty four hours of Fox coverage. Well, news is also entertainment these days, so let's leave it all right back to entertainment. Then. I have noticed lately Amazon Prime is knocking it out of the park. I mean, they had the terminal List, which is hard for me to try and watch Chris Pratt in a serious role. But anyway, they had Jack Reacher that was killer. They had outer range, which I love with I think Josh Brolin. Um, they're just they're just taking it over. Yeah, so they're

they're obviously. You know the interesting thing, I actually talked to someone at Amazon, very senior executive. Their biggest issue with Prime is a lot of the people at Prime subscriptions don't realize and includes television, includes video and so they so first they have to they need their Handmad's Tail. They need that show that everyone wants to watch, and

they're investing heavily in getting that. And then they have to remind everyone that, hey, by the way, you have access to this as part of getting your packages delivered same day. So they're they're really in it. Um. I my company used to be based in l A since the pandemic were fully remote right now, and when we're in l A. Amazon built a huge movie studio in Culver City, and I mean a million square feet of

space to produce shows, to to manage all that. So they're they're heavily investing along with all the other big They don't have the Adam Project though, no they don't. Ryan Ryan Reynolds continues, did you get a cameo in that? Um? I have have no cameos in Ryan's movie I haven't I have a cameo in his actual life right now, just for the listeners, h Mark and Mountain. Ryan Reynolds is their chief creative officer. So is that the right title. Yeah,

it's been an incredible partnership. Mark, you mentioned your folks are remote. Is that permanent? How's that working? I mean you look around here. Mike has like this phenomenal office for us. Nobody's here. Yeah. So we we at the relatively early in the pandemic. We decided when everyone scattered, including me, I went to I left l A and actually went all over the I went tot Loo, Mexico and spent nine months there. Had it very nice. I thought you gonna say back to the Bronx, but it

pretty cool. France is good too, and so we just decided we're going fully remote. We decided in May of um, maybe June, we're going fully remote, and um we do four off sites a year to bring the team together. It's been fantastic. That's good stuff. Interesting. Every everybody's adapting. Everybody has adapted is adapting. Mark Douglas, President CEO of Mountain, joining us live in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio that is very cool. We appreciate them taking the effort to

come in here. Right now, let's check in with James McCann's deputy chief economists Aberdeen Standard Investments. James, thanks so much for joining us here. Boy, tremendous amounts of news flow. We've got central bankers making statements all over the place raising interest rate, We've got earnings, we've got g DP prints, we've got geopolitical issues obviously in Europe. Uh and today

there a lot of focus on Taiwan. When you step back and think about where the US economy is going, I wonder how you kind of put all those pieces together. How do you think about the US economy and maybe even you know, the global economy really over the next six or twelve months. Yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right. It's just a huge amount to unpack here. I think what's very clear from the U S data is that

we're going into a very pronounced soft patch. I think the fact that we've had a huge energy price drive and commodity price drate and price shock has had a larger effect of many had expected on on consumer sentiments, on consumer spending, etcetera. So you know, definitely we see in strong signs in the data of a soft spot, of a soft patch. We're not convinced this as a recession. I know, last week after the two quarters of negative growth has been a lot of speculation and concern that

we're already in recession. We're not convinced that we yet, but look, the risks are definitely increasing. And then when we look on a longer term horizon, we do think as the Fed titans policy, as financial conditions have already adjusted very very significantly, stressing markets has increased that we think the outlook as we go forward is for a further deterior ration in growth. And what we know, as I said, we don't think crim recession at the moment.

We do think prospects over that sort of twelve month horizon are pretty dim. So we have a lot of concerns about where the U. S. Economy is going, and we know when where the U. S. Economy glows, that the global economy tends to follow. I mean, it's pretty hard to obviously um the technical definition normally are the

rule of thumb is to quarters of contraction. But if you look at this economy with three and a half percent unemployment, and you know six or seven percent nominal growth, Um, it's difficult to see it, or more it's difficult to

see it as a recession. Now. On the other hand, we had an interesting note by his old ten poser opposed are Overnight Um and our colleague are a Jersey from Bloomberg Intelligence also has said that this is a FED that wants to fight inflation and is sort of determined, um to turn this inflation around at the risk of pushing the economy into a recession or as posed our even the depression. Do you think we're gonna go to

five percent? Do you think we're gonna go to six percent as the outliers are saying, or um, do you believe the market that the Fed is going to get to three and a half or four and then turn tail and run back down? By that team means sorry un employment rates, No, No, I mean the terminal rate the FED right now at the top range at two fifty, right, And even if they do seventy five again, that's only

three and a quarter. And and if you look at futures, the market thinks they're gonna go to four maybe a little more, and then come back down already next year. But does that mean we're gonna already have met our two percent inflation goal by next year or are they going to go early? What do you think, um the

time it's going to be? I told them, I think that the difficulty for the Fed at the moment is it's seeing signs of weakness in the growth, but it's just not comfortable and I don't think will be comfortable for a while in pivoting. And that's because it's just going to take a while to an inflation under control even if growth slow, as the economy looks just enormously in balanced stills. So I think today's jolt states were

really interesting. They showed openings fell pretty significantly, but they're still from a historical style and just extraordinarily high. And it just tells me the seat has more work to do in taking some of the heat tells of this economy. So we certainly think the set has a ways to go in terms of its tightening. But we probably agree that the you know, the terminal rate looks most likely to be around we're not a half per cent, so there are still a fat dunk of tightening to come.

It's not impossible that the FED has to go to go higher certainly if that inflation proves you know, more difficult to to to to do you think with that kind of terminal rate they could get down to two. We were at nine point one. I know they don't go by headline cp I, but uh, what's core PC right now? Like five? Um? Can they get back to two with a terminal rate of only four? Yeah? Sorry, the connection is a little bit poor here, but I think they can. I think they can definitely create and

I think they can do so potentially quite quickly. I think that has to happen sort of late next year into twenty four potentially. But really what you need to see as an inflation for when it falls, it could for quite quite quickly. You know. Certainly the energy price dynamic I think is already going to be disinflation ry through the summer, and it growth sloans could provide further

disinflation reimpetus. I think global goods prices could moderate quite quite rapidly given weakening demand and improving supply chain conditions. So it's not impossible that some aspects of their inflation

picture improved quite quite rapidly. I think what they really need to see is that course services inflation moderate, and for that they need to see labor market sees and wages start to come down, and then I think they'll be more confident that the run rate, perhaps not the year on year rate, but the run rate of monthly inflation is coming in more in line with where their

inflation target is. And actually, I don't think they're going to put the economy into a depression to achieve that, because I don't think inflation would be that stubborn, you know, but certainly we think that, you know, consecutively a period of very weak growth of recession will be enough to sort of shake that inflation geanie back into the bottle maybe as as a way of putting it, and that will allow them to cut as we sort of move into late twenty three and twenty twenty four. But that's

a we have to get the tightening in first. I guess James about the consumer, the consumer is kind of hanging in there pretty well, and Matt mentioned the relatively strong, very strong employment position, but there are some concerns about savings rates coming down, credit card rate balance is going up. How do you view the consumer? Look, I think the consumer in aggregilities is in really good shape when we

look at the balance. So if we think about debts the ratio of the to income, then that's a multi year lows. We know there's a lot of accruede saving. Even if the flow of saving, the monthly thing that they're doing sort of back to pre crisis normals, they've built up a big stock pile of saving. I guess the key question for the consumer is, you know, what

do they do with that? Well? Are they happy to keep on spending it, especially as the economic outlook starts to starts to darken, especially as the labor market starts to weaken, do they switch to perhaps some more precautionary stance. I think that's what we're already seeing signs of of coming out, is that consumers, at first we're looking to spend through this inflation of the impulse. Now they seem

a little bit less convinced. So, you know, I don't think the consumers in terrible shape, but I do think they'll become increasingly cautious about how they spend their money. I think that's going to be felt most acutely endurable good sector, just because they've spent so much in that in that part of the economy over the last two years.

Maybe services still has a bit of insulations. People are getting back to normal to you're going back to their lives pre pre pandemic spending on holidays and and anything else, et cetera. But yeah, I do think they look to Edinburgh. Yeah, exactly, it's my next holiday, all right, James, what do they do that log throwing thing? When do they do that big Scottish Thailand Highland Games? That would that's later this year is so you should definitely get to tell. Tell well,

hopefully it cools down. Tell Luke Hickmore. I'm on my way, all right, James mcinn, Deputy Chief Economist, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Thanks so much for joining. Alright, all eyes on Taiwan today, Uh speaker Ploss playing did land moments ago in Taiwan. Now there's a red headline across the Bloomberg terminal China to carry out military drills encircling Taiwan. So here we go. Let's get the latest on all things Taiwan and from

the speaker. Emily Wilkins, Washington reporter with Bloomberg Government, joins us here. So Emily, here we go. The speakers in Taiwan what is the expectation in Washington, hopeful or not about how this will play out? I mean, I think the expectation in Washington. Number one, this is an absolutely historic day. It is a historic trip. This is um the first time in a quarter of a century that one of the top lawmakers in America that the third

in line from the presidency is in Taiwan. We saw that Taiwan even projected um onto a building near the airfield a message welcoming Speaker Pelosi and and saying that the Taiwan and that that Taiwan loves the US. And so it is a huge trip for those reasons. But when you look at exactly what is going to be accomplished here, Pelosi already put out a statement saying that you know that this is not change how the US sees Taiwan. It does not change US and Taiwan relationships.

The US is sticking with the status quo. But she also notes that at this point that the US Taiwan relationship is more important today than ever as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy. Those were words that the Speaker are released in a statement shortly after she landed. So she's seen a larger historical context here. I think after Russia invaded Ukraine, a lot of folks started asking could we see similar with China and Taiwan.

And so even though this trip does not involved a policy shift, it is sort of a signal about where the US sees Taiwan and the allegiance that that both have with each other. Eamily, you spend a lot of time um in the halls of Congress. Is this something that you know, one of those rare issues that has support on both sides of the aisle? It does? It

really does. I mean, we saw Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, certainly, someone who's never been afraid to criticize Pelosi in the past, basically encouraging her to go on this trip, saying that if she didn't, she would be handing China a win. We heard very similar rhetoric from the House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. You've heard the same from em Pelosi's own party. Certainly, there have been security concerns that we I've heard from

the Department of Defense, from the Pentagon. There's a recognition that this is a sensitive time within the relationship between Washington and Beijing. At the same point, I can't think of a single House member who has really come out and said we don't want Speaker Pelosi to be going on this trip at this time. Certainly there this is going to have to be a trip where the Speaker needs to be cautious. She needs to be careful in what words she uses in the actions that she has.

At the same point, though this is not Pelosi's first rodeo. I mean, she went to Taneman Square and and protested um the killings there the previous two years, and so she understands the region, she understands the aspect, she understands the dynamics, and certainly she's been in a position of power long enough to to really understand what would and would not be considered uh in line with the current status quo. Emily, Matt and I are looking at the live go when we see a view here appears to

be of a hotel in Taiwan. Looks like the press corps maybe assembling here. Do we know or what do we know of Speaker Pelosi's schedule for tomorrow in in terms of events, in terms of press availability, that type of thing, So we haven't gotten a ton of details about this trip. I mean the Speaker's office. I don't think they ever even confirmed that she was actually going to Taiwan until the plane touched down. In this statement came out, we didn't know that she has planning on

meeting with officials within Taiwan, within the legislature, with Taiwan's president. UM. That those are all things on the agenda. Remember too, this is a part of a larger trip. She was in Singapore, she is still planning on going to Japan and to South Korea. UM. And so it will definitely

be a very closely watched trip for Speaker Pelosi. UM. But in the in the same at the same time, UM, I think there are there's a sense that the most historic thing that she's done is today simply landing here, stepping off the plane and becoming the first Speaker in twenty five years to do So. What kind of legislation is um circulating in Washington and support of Taiwan because we used to have a mutual defense treaty until we basically quit out of it in ninety nine, Is there

anything like that on the books? So at this point that hasn't been a giant focus. UM. The things that you've seen Washington be really consumed with right now. Are mostly domestic things that that reconciliation package that uh kind of rose out of the dust the other week, UH stuff for veterans are are very much on lawmakers minds

at this point. But you have seen really that bipartisan willingness in Congress to pass legislation UM that would sort of you know, slap China on the risk for human rights abuses, UM, that would kind of continue to establish

US dominance in the markets over China. You recently saw lawmakers take up that fifty two billion dollar deal in semiconductors with the idea that more of them now need to be made in the US so that the US does not rely as much on China and partly Taiwan, should China make some sort of move to change the status quo there. And you know, these are the things that I think lawmakers are are more focused on at this time. Emily, great stuff, Thank you very much for

your reporting. Really appreciate getting the update there. Emily Wilkins, congressional reporter for Bloomberg Government based in Washington, d C. Giving us the latest, UH. Speaker Pelosi in Taiwan or playing landed just moments ago. Kind you want to bring you this interview with Uber CEO Dara kosh Roshah. He talking about the company's recent earnings with Bloomberg's Guy Johnson and Emily Chang. Certainly some very good numbers coming out

of there. Let's bring you that interview right now with the CEO of Uber, Dara. Thank you so much for joining us. A happy day, I know, when the stock is that much in the green, you hit a record on Booking's revenue more than doubled. Dig into some of the trends here. What was so different about this quarter than the last few quarters when it came to supply

and demand. Well, to some extent, it's a continuation of the last few quarters, but we're really hitting a scale point here, Like you said, twenty nine billion dollars in growth bookings of thirty six percent on a year on year basis. Uh as it relates on a constant currency basis are ebada three hundred sixty two million, well above our guidance range, and the guidance that we gave forward was well above street estimates, etcetera. So an indication of

anticipated strength coming. And then a really important factor for US is we're a free cash flow positive three two million dollars in free cash flow, which is a big positive factor in our being self sustaining and a profitable going forward. And when we look at the environment, the marketplace is more balanced. The number of new drivers that we're adding in the US is up over seventy on a year. On your basis surges down e t A

s or down. Uh So the business is really hitting on all cylinders and it's reflected in the stock price, which is great. Dara, thank you. We're looking at live pictures from Taipei where how speaker Nancy Pelosi's motorcade has just arrived at a Taiwan hotel. We're gonna keep monitoring, of course, her big visit to Taiwan. I do want to ask you a little bit about the broader environment, Dara. I still hear people say Uber is expensive, and we're

seeing Uber benefiting from this. When you look at your earnings and the bottom line, how do you think about this dynamic longer term? Do you worry at all about alienating customers when they're already getting squeezed, Given that this is the worst inflationary environment in Uber's history, yeah, I think inflation is hitting all of us, whether it's grocery

prices or fuel prices. And remember, uh, fuel is a big component of our driver costs, so that affects Uber prices as well, and you do see it in a result. While trips were up, which is really really healthy growth growth, bookings were up fast than that, which indicates some inflationary effect on our results. I think the good news for us is that surge levels are actually coming down, E t A s are coming down, so as the marketplace becomes more balanced, we actually see strength in terms of

trip growth going forward. And we're hoping if we do our jobs and so far, so good onboarding more and word drivers that prices on Uber will ease going forward. At the same time drivers will make really strong earnings as well. At the same time, we've heard so many dire warnings about the economy. Jamie Diamond has said he's preparing for an economic hurricane. I just spoke to Apple CEO Tim Cook, who said, you know, he plans to be deliberate in Apple spending. You said in the past

that you think Uber is recession resistant. Do you still believe that if we continue to see these down downward trends, and what is uber strategy to navigate continuing downward trends. Well, I think you're certainly seeing in earn results, which is uh, There's been a bunch of earnings results out there, and sometimes they've been less than great. I think Uber's earnings have been terrific in every way, top line growth, profitability

growth as well. Um at the same time, we are being disciplined in terms of how we grow going forward. This is why our margins are improving so much on a year on your basis, free cash flow is now positive as well. Because of the scale that we have because we're in multiple businesses, both in mobility and delivery. I think we have a kind of business that can

perform in all weather. But at the same time, we are being disciplined in terms of costs to make sure that as the environment, if it gets tougher, we are prepared. The other factor that I point out to is that you have seen, you know, during the pandemic, huge amount of spend went into retail and out of services. Now we're seeing the reversal of that money coming out of

retail and into services. And Uber is an ultimate service company and we're benefiting from that, so you can expect us to perform better than the overall environment, certainly this year. When we look at next year, we have to be careful because those comps can go against us, which is why we are bringing real cost discipline into the business, growing top line and the bottom line. So tell me a little bit more about what you mean by discipline.

Does that could that impact hiring? You know, any plans for layoffs or cutbacks on staff as we're seeing at other tech companies. I think the good news for us is with top line growth of thirty certainly no plans for layoffs, but we are being more disciplined in terms

of headcoun growth. So we're adding headcount to key areas Let's say Uber for business salespeople that part of our business is growing very very quickly, or advertising business, which is a very very high margin business and growing as well. So we're adding heads selectively to parts of the portfolio that are growing in really strong and power a ways.

Otherwise words scale already, we are going to leverage costs, both variable costs and fixed costs going forward, and I think this environment that is demanding more discipline, it's the perfect environment for Luber competitively. Dary, Good morning, it's Guy Um picking up on that point. How much of current spend do you think is discretionary? You know, we do have a fair amount of discretionary spend in terms of

marketing spend or incentive spend. We continue to have drivers sign on bonuses or guarantees as as earnings are elevated, UH, to make sure that drivers feel safe on boarding onto the platform and then see their earnings the great earnings for themselves. So there's certainly some discretionary spend and you're seeing that in terms of the margin efficiency of the company.

Are gross profit margins, for example, are up your on year and we are our fixed costs are growing at much slower rates than that thirty six percent gross bookings growth rates. We are speaking with Uber CEO Darrik Costra Shah He I'm joined by Bluemberg's Emily Chang on Bluemberg Television and Radio. Dar Are you talked a moment ago about growth markets. Let's talk about markets where maybe you are not seeing that growth. Where are you reevaluating right now?

There's been some conversations, certainly I've heard talking about the idea that maybe you could withdraw from India. Oh, those conversations are entirely false. We've said it a bunch of times and I'll say it again. Our India business in terms of mobility is at performing at excellent excellent rates. Were very happy with that business. We did exit uh India delivery business. We didn't think we could be a top one or two player and there are certain markets

Brazil for example, and delivery where we decided to get out. Essentially, if we don't think we have a chance to get to number one within a reasonable cost, UH, we will look to be disciplined in terms of our portfolio. But when you look at her portfolio, both mobility and delivery both are growing at healthy rates. Were either number one or number two in the markets that we compete in and we're very very confident going forward. And to be clear,

we are staying in mobility in India. We love the market. So Dar, are you confirming there that you're selling your steak in to motto? I mean we've heard that a big shareholder is selling. This is the big food delivery company in India, and there are reports that Uber is selling at steak. Yeah, no comment on those reports. One or the other. Okay, UM, so let's talk about the markets to guys point about where Uber might not be

growing as much. You mentioned on the call that West coast markets are taking a little bit longer to come back, and I'm I'm thinking about San Francisco and how it's been a struggle to get workers back to the office. How are you thinking about this and Uber's, for example, Uber's own flexible work policies. Do you see the flexibility that you're giving workers holding up into next year for example? Does it does feel like the tail of two coasts?

You know, when we look at the East coast New York, Miami, even UH cities Atlanta, Austin, Dallas. Our business is coming back, is roaring back, uh at this point, and we feel great about that business. Now. The San Francisco markets, Los Angeles, Seattle, they're certainly coming back. But when you look at the absolute levels versus pre pandemic levels, UH, it's a very very different story. UM. And you know, we'll keep pushing and we will do our part to make sure that

we've got ample supply in those markets. UH. And the service works very well as it relates to Uber. UH. You know, we believe in two things. One is we want people to get out and getting out means going back to the office as well. And at the same time, we believe in flexibility, so we are going with a hybrid model. We're encouraging employees who don't want to be remote only to come in fifty percent of the time.

And I will tell you, when you get together with your workmates, especially in a world and an area where you're working as hard as you are, as it relates to Uber, especially as you care so much about your impact, getting together in person is a great jolt of energy. I very much believe in it. But ultimately we want we want the best of both worlds. It's gonna get more competitive out there. Um, you've got Amazon interesting in

grub Hub. What do you think that means for you? Well, we're very confident of our delivery business group twelve percent on a year on year basis constant currency, and our share in the US has been very, very consistent. The focus for us is to drive profitability of our delivery business. So we had a record quarter in terms of profitability nine million in iba DA and we expect that profitability to increase going forward. In terms of Amazon and grub Hub,

we've seen zero material effect on us. We work with Amazon for example in Japan, uh, and because of our global scope and scale, we have a lot of chances to work with different players. Amazon is a great company, and we'll work We'll look to work with them. However, we can now if there was an area of weakness. Uh. You could say in the report, I'm looking at delivery. Delivery bookings mixed, missed expectations by about a billion, and you're forecasting it will be flat for the current quarter.

Given just how big a part of the business this has become post pandemic, do you think a slowdown in delivery could potentially drag down the rest? Well, I think that the slowdown that we're seeing in delivery is is really a measure of the comps right last year, the

delivery business of growing unbelievably quickly. If you look at delivery growth in the U S Uber eat crew year on year, our overall US delivery business crew year on year, uh, the growth rate there we're seeing internationally is affected by comps the year before, and if you compare delivery to two years ago, both of the US and international or growing an annual rate of forty plus percent, which is super super healthy. So we're big believers in delivery. The

focus this year is really to draw profitability. We are at scale where the number one or number two player and the vast majority of markets that we compete in, and it's time for delivery to get profitable and we are going to lead in that aspect. Wrap it up that guys, stokes up fifteen point full percent. Pretty good day at the office. That are great to catch up. Thank you very much. Indeed, lebe dark here of course, Blue Bugs Emily Chang, This is Blue Bug. Thanks for

listening to the Bloomberg Markets podcast. You can subscribe and listen to interviews an Apple Podcasts or whatever podcast platform you prefer. I'm Matt Miller. I'm on Twitter at Matt Miller seventy three and on Fall Sweeney I'm on Twitter at pt sweeney. Before the podcast. You can always catch us worldwide at Bloomberg Radio