From Marhart where Innovation, Money and power.
Collie in Silicon Valley NBN. This is Bloomberg Technology with Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow.
Ed Ludlow here in San Francisco. Caroline Hyde is off today. This is Bloomberg Technology coming up on the program. Full earnings coverage ahead as Uber reports a surprise operating profit but misses on revenue estimates. We sit down with CEO Dara Koshra Shahi. Plus we'll look at competition in social media as Elon Musk's X tries to become an everything app.
We'll discuss with the CEO of stock Twits. And we're going to read on private markets in the state Eventure Capital with our VC spotlight Dina Lux Dina Shakir sorry of Lux Capital joining us quick check on the markets. This is the technology corners of your equity markets. Now, is that why one hundred softer buy two tens of percent? We're kind of treading water at the moment when it comes to the tech sector. Think about that two percent gain we had on the NATS that one hundred last week.
Some weaker earnings are driving the narrative underperformance in the US listed shares of Chinese technology names then as that Goden Dragon Index down one point seven percent as we continue to gauge what's going on in the Chinese economy, particularly as well from the regulatory standpoint and the Chinese government's attitude towards some of those.
Chinese tech players.
And again Bitcoin now actually below twenty nine thousand US dollars part token it's traded for the last ten days or so in this kind of narrow range between twenty nine twenty nine thousand, five hundred US dollars part tooken. No real news catalyst or news flow driving what's happening in that cryptocurrency.
One of our favorite risk assets in the earning.
Story in the single name movers, there's just one that we're looking at, and that is Uber. For the first time an operating profit on a gap basis. This is something that the world's been waiting for when it comes to Uber, the question would they ever be profitable? They are, Even so, the stockdown almost six percent, on track for its biggest decline since October.
The concern from.
The street seems to be about growth, but the numbers in the court are just gone were good. Let's get more on Uber's results and bringing Bloombos Jackie Davloss out of DC covering everything, gig economy, everything in the apps.
Give me the main numbers with Uber because.
By all accounts, on every metric, whether it's a demand focus or a supply focused metric, Uber did well.
Uber used to be known as the poster child for money losing unicorns in Silicon Valley, and this quarter really put a lid on that. You had net income of three hundred and ninety four million. It's not the first time that it's posted a net gain, but what's different this time, ed, is that a lot of that came from the underlying business, not just positive swings in its equity stakes.
When you look.
Under the hood, those were trip volumes and it's ride hailing business, which were at all time highs, finally recovering to those pre pandemic levels.
You also had delivery.
Demand at all time highs, people using the app to order takeout more often with bigger basket sizes. And then on top of that, you have other business lines like advertising subscriptions finally rising to a point where it's it's making a dent in how much demand the company is bringing into the app. Now like you said the street wasn't totally convinced that the numbers are there long term.
You have positive bookings for this quarter they rose sixteen percent, but at the same time, there's a little skepticism that they can keep this run going, especially when macroeconomic headwinds are looking to be a little bit of a challenge for some other tech players.
You know, the story very good summary by the way of the numbers, but the story is that people were willing to spend on ride hailing. They're willing to spend on food delivery despite a tougher economic environment.
But the bar is so high now for Uber going forward, right.
That's exactly right.
You know, they've made steps.
Over the past few years, and really difficult ones at that. If you remember where they were during the start of the pandemic, massive layoffs, they hived off unprofitable units. They've really been preparing the business for a business that isn't relying on artificially low pricing. And now you take a look at you know what it's growth drivers are going forward. It's going to rely on you know, is the app
fun to be on for users? Is it useful not just for takeout and delivery but also what are some of the other ways that it can snag some of that attention. It's going into chartered buses, it has you know, uber Boat and Migano's grease for example, So it's really looking at any other ways it can tap growth. And it's been effective so far. But at the same time, you know that livery demand is starting to taper off
a little bit. You have door Dash reporting tomorrow, and I think investors are looking to see just how resilient that is, because that is a growing part of Oover's overall business.
Jackie.
The other piece of standalone news is that CFO Nelson Chai will step down effective January fifth. I think that confirms your reporting from earlier in July. What did the company have to say about that?
Only positive things. Nelson has had an amazing run at the company. He really cleaned up the Uber's balance sheet from when it first iPod and to now, so this quarter is really kind of his victory lap of sorts. The company said they're looking for another replacement, but he's going to stay on board until January fifth of next year, so investors can stay assured that that discipline and the execution is still going to remain in the months to come.
All right, Bliebose JACKI Davlos out of DC. Thank you very much, so stay with Uber. Web Bush is out with a note reacting to earnings that calls Uber CEO Dara Koshrahatshahi the comeback kid. The CEO is leading a quote comeback for the ages at Uber joining us now Dan ives web Bush, seniority analyst who has an outperformed rating and fifty two dollars price target on Uber. The comeback kid. Why do you say that, Dan, I mean, go back eighteen months.
I mean, as you know, well, back was against the wall, and now you will get growth, We'll get profitability and cash flow, especially as little brother Lift is at the kids table.
I mean they're gaining share and I think this is just a knee.
Jerk reaction where we're buyers, and I think this is the stock that continues to move high. An inslection point quarter, rocky bat ball like comeback for Uber.
The gross bookings forecast for the current period was slightly ahead of expectations. But there does seem to be a growth longer term with Uber. Why don't you share that concern?
I will, They've been able to balance and strategically, if you look at rides, you look at mobility, you look at what's happening ultimately on the food delivery business. I think actually numbers continue to be conservative, and I think the key here is that.
The street doesn't get ahead of itself.
They're not gonna continue to raise guidance, maybe as dramatically as some of the investory start, which is why you're seeing need your reaction here, But I think that's the game for them. Under promise, over deliver balanced growth going into twenty twenty four, and I think it's one of the best risk reward disruptive tech names out there.
With this comeback story being led by Down.
You go back to February and that guidance you're referring to is the justiny a bit doar five billion in twenty twenty four, even if not dramatic. Were you surprised they didn't revise higher even a little?
I think that's the way of Pokemon.
I mean, in this macro still some volatility go in the second and half of the year, want to give themselves a wager room. I still think that that beatable. But if you look at the execution store and not just talking and talk walk in the walk, and I think many of the bearers that have been skeptical have
been proven wrong. If you look at the last few quarters and even you go back last year, I think this is really now what i'll call the next chapter of success for Uber that's starting to play out long term.
What is the picture for Uba?
Yeah, you called Darak kros Rashahi the comeback kid, but that's that comeback's happened. You know, how does he lead this company into the next five or ten years.
I think ultimately down the road it's it's going to be our Tiomous is going to play a role, you know where I do see them potentially doing more and more things with Tesla.
You know, just when you think about from.
The where that ultimate is going from a technology perspective, I think Free is going to be something where they're going to add more into from a resource perspective, and then ultimately just penetrating the consumer more and more.
I think that's really going to be the goal.
That's the golden goose for Uber when you think about where they're head.
I think Darrek Cross Society was saying earlier this morning that they see a world of true autonomy being seven to ten years away. Does that signal any complacency to you that they're not investing and focused on it now?
Again, what they're saying what they're actually doing in two separate things.
I do think strategically they are going to be focused on by things, be more through partnerships, because the last thing you want to see them do is is just spend money like nineteen eights rock Stars that they were doing two three years ago. I think it's about balanced growth here that continues to sort of play out.
It's hard to pull holes in the store.
You have knee jerk reactions here, just like we've seen with some mother names, but we're buyers here. I think this is a stock that ultimately gets into the senior citizen type level as we go on in twenty twenty four.
Yeah, Dan, We've been talking a lot here on technology about the idea of an everything app, and Uber seems like as close to an everything app as you see in Southeast Asia, for example. Do you see a future for them where they offer a broader range of services and products.
Look, I think that's definitely one of the potential paths. But as we've seen, you know, we've grab in Indonesia and throughout the US. We've seen it with weed Chat. It's easier said than done, and I do think Gouber right now that is maybe.
A broader plan.
Of course, it's a plant for Twitter formally and now known as X in terms of muscle growl strategy. But Uber needs to make sure that they build this out the right way and don't just try to be all things to all people.
And I think that's right now.
The balance are dow striking, but finally adults in the room running the company and investments like what they see this.
Year Dan looking ahead to Thursday, the big one Apple reports its earnings. What are you expecting from the iPhone maker?
Get out the popcorner. I mean they continue to I think beat expectations in China, which is the hearts and lungs. This is the drum rolls German talks about to Iophone fifteen. I'd the doc that can need to rerate higher and services as in March, is toward that three and a half four trillion mark despite many yelling fire in a cryoud theater.
This year, I look at MODL on the Bloomberg term and all the estimates that we're compiling. And the only area of sort of year in your top line growth is services. Where's your head out with Apple services offering right now?
I think services starts to now tick toward double digits as we go into fiscal twenty four. I think some of the parts that's worth one point three to one point four trillion. And this is all the drum roll to a read seller growth story despite the macrom That's what's happening at Apple, you know.
I think when you think.
About it, it's also the margin story you're seeing asp as lyft. It's another example of cook playing chess.
Well, I just play checkers, all right.
Dan Knives of Webbush calling uber CEO Darakosi the comeback kid. Stay tuned later on in Bloombo Technology when uber CEO Daraki joins us here on the show to discuss those results. Elon Musk's ex Corps sued a nonprofit group that monitors online hate speech, accusing it of falsely describing the social media platform formerly known as Twitter as being overwhelmed with
harmful content. In the lawsuit filed late Monday in San Francisco Federal call X Corp Claims the Center for countering digital hate is illegally scraping its servers and cherry picking objectionable posts as part of a quote scare campaign to drive away advertisers.
We will continue to.
Track that story now for more only Everything app the battle for social media dominance. Were delighted to be joined by Rushi Khana, CEO, and I find this so interesting, Richie, because at the core of the idea of an everything app, as outlined by Elon Musk and Linda Yakarino, the CEO of X formerly known as Twitter, it's adding data, financial services, and that's creeping into your domain a little bit.
Yeah, I mean, I think it's easier said than done. And you know, first of all, thanks for having me on. But yeah, I think you know, in everything app is beyond just adding you know, the futures. It's about engaging and creating a space that makes people comfortable with doing it. And i'd argue trust is a large part of that space,
which makes it difficult. And over the last you know, three to six months, we've seen a tough time of Twitter establishing or X establishing maintaining trust with its community and user base.
You know, stock Twitz is a platform where you have data, but you also have the opportunity to comment, share live quote about the mark kids.
Do you see that being able to.
Be replicated on X, which already has the comment part, just not the data pot Yeah.
I mean, obviously we have the community aspect of it as X does, and they have that commentary. I mean, we came up with Twitter fourteen years ago and have built our our community organically over the last fourteen years.
I think it is.
You know, we've seen experiments with X adding charts in partnership with other vendors and providers, and I think that's something they could do. But I'd argue, you know, in certain verticals, there's much more depth than just data that is demanded by the community and users to really make it a valuable verticalized that. I think finance and investing specifically is a great space for that, and that's the
space we're in. I think it's more than just adding data, it's the context and being able to focus on that context for the community as your product roadmap, as your strategy entirely, which you know is much more than you know I think we're XS at today.
No, Rishi, we've been speaking with you on Bloomberg technology over the last two or three years in the context of memes, stocks, but the idea that something is trending or a point of discussion on social media platforms in the context of specific names. Do you recognize X, the platform for me known as Twitter, as a place where those conversations are still taking place or where they originate from.
I think that.
Absolutely the conversation is still taking place. So the conversation has taken place on X formerly Twitter, it's taking place on stock twits, it's taken place on Reddit. You know, the conversation is more than just any one platform. But you know, I do think you're you're seeing an erosion in the trust on on X today right now, where
you know, it's tougher to find the conversations. I know, you know from in speaking to many people, their experience in the discovery of the conversation has gotten harder, just with the algorithm changes and whatnot. And so I think that's the opportunity for other platforms, whether it's a threads or whether it's you know, us at stock twits, to kind of continue to lean in and make sure that we provide the right kind of space for those conversations, but it absolutely still happens on acts.
How does stock Twits lean in then, I mean, is there an opportunity for you to expand the stock Twits offering to become your own everything app?
You know, so I feel like I'm in a bord meeting right now, but no, it's something we've been very focused on for our vertical. So you know, last year we actually launched trading right in the app, so through our own broker dealer, and so, you know, I look at our opportunity to lean in about delivering value across the investing life cycle, from ideation, through the research phase, through the execution phase, and into portfolio management. So that to me is the you know, kind of everything life
cycle of your investing or trading journey. And so we are filling in the pieces across that strategically. Like I said, last year, we added equity trading. This year we'll expand on kind of the execution platform and the kinds of trading you can do both directly through us as well as through partners, and continue to fill that and lean
in there. And at the same time, we're very much leading into kind of the community side and the social side and giving better tools to our community, filling the gaps and tackling the problems you know that are that our members have.
Rishie, let's let's run with that idea. You're in a board meeting ex Corp and Elon Musk of a proposal on the table to acquire stock twits.
What's the chances of that happening?
I would say it's low to quite low in terms of that offer coming. I mean, we're we've been independent entity for a long time. I think Elon Musk is a very you know, mercurial, uh, you know, interesting person. I don't know that you know he's gonna have that appetite for acquisitions or or looking outside.
I think he has.
He has a very strong vision from what he thinks he wants to do from back in the nineties and uh and so I don't I don't know that you know it's coming out acquiring you know, stock twits, which may maybe we'll take over the tweet branding for him since he's decided to let it go.
What's what's driving the conversation on stock twits culturally? You know, where are you seeing traffic and engagement at its highest?
Well, the beauty of the markets is it's new every day, right and so you know today right now in our current you know where we're at, it's earning seasons is in full swing and we're seeing a ton of you know conversation happened around earning season, you know, so far yesterday obviously had you know, some really great you know, positive news for their their stock, and there's a lot of conversation around that. And you know we're going into
some we had some big earnings last week. We're going into some big ones you know, Apple and Uber and whatnot this week.
Uh.
And so earnings and those kind of like you know kind of market factors are always there. You definitely have that kind of meme stock aspect as well. So Tupperware has been one of these, you know, big conversations over the last call it five days or so, I guess. And so where people are discovering whatever the thesis might be right with tupple where it's an interesting, one long standing brand, uh, you know, struggling from a financial perspective,
short interest discovered. It has those catalysts that you know I've I've talked about before in terms of what drives or what can what can create a meme stock. So, you know, the beauty with the markets is there's different catalysts, whether it is a regular thing like earnings, or whether it's you know, kind of news driven uh, you know, kind of special report driven in you know, AI has been a big thing or ev space has been a huge aspect.
Christy Khana's stock twits is always good to catch up.
Thank you for your time joining us out of New York.
Now coming up, ftx's new bankruptcy plan could mean cash payments for its customers.
Bring you that story next.
This is Bloomberg Technology.
All right. Time for talking tech.
First up, NASA is listening for any sound from Voyager two after losing contact with the spacecraft billions of miles away. Voyager two has been out of touch ever since flight controllers accidentally sent a wrong command more than a week ago that tilted its antenna away from Earth. Plus Florentry Advisors is doubling down on India's drone making sector after an early bet on the Mumbai listed company generated a
return of almost six hundred percent. The Blackstone Alarm brought a fifteen percent stake in bot Lab Dynamics for about two point four million and expects three more portfolio companies to go public soon.
An FTX unveiled.
A cash repayment plan as part of its bankruptcy. The draft proposes valuing customer claims in US dollars as of the date it went bankrupt and repaying them by selling assets tied to various silos of the business. FTX hasn't ruled out rebooting an offshore exchange.
That all, according to filings.
Coming up, a big bloomberg scoop on Tesla, a one hundred million dollar plan for a semi truck charging network. This is Bloomberg Technology. Welcome back to Bloomberg Technology. Ed Ludlow here in San Francisco. Looking at the markets, the index level then a's that one hundred. It is the tech heavy index, software by four tenths of a percent. The story's been sort of the market treading water this
earning season. There have been some disappointments, some of the megacats of surprise to the upside, with focus as well on economic data and the conversation about a recession, particularly in the US is now steering toward a soft landing. But there is so much of this earning season still to go away from earnings. We're also looking at shares of Tesla moving to the downside.
Moving a little lower.
But there is some news out of Bloomberg News ev giant Tesla seeking a one hundred million dollar check from the US to help it build a network of charging stations for the Tesla's semi truck. That's according to emails seen by Bloomberg News that outline a proposed trucking corridor from the Texas Mexico border to northern California. Bloomberg's Dana Hole broke that story alongside Sean o'caine and joins me, Now.
Let's take a look at the map.
We're talking about a route between Laredo, Texas up to northern California. What did you learn about what Tesla's trying to do.
Yeah, so there's a lot of money in the infrastructure build pro President Biden to build out EV charging. And when we talk about EV charging, we typically focus on passenger cars. But if we're going to really electrify transportation in the United States, heavy duty truck. Heavy duty trucking
is huge opportunity. And it's this chicken and egg thing where like we don't really have a lot of EV trucks on the road yet, because there's not a robust ev charging infrastructure for the Class eight kind of trucks that are out there. So Tesla is seeking funding to build this kind of route basically from Texas where they have a factory, to North California, where they also have a factory. So it's obviously in their interests to sort
of do the route this way. We know that the semi truck is going to be used to sort of haul Tesla goods internally, and it's also a major trucking corridor. I mean, there's a lot of trucking in Texas in general.
So you know, this is not a done deal.
This is Tesla seeking federal funding to kind of do this proposal, but it's just an interesting window into sort of what Tesla has planned and is thinking about, and their policy team has always been very shrewd of taking advantage of any federal funding that is out there.
I think it's nine proposed sites between Laredo and northern California, right. It's also interesting south of the border because Tesla has plans for production in Mexico.
Yeah.
Absolutely, I mean, and you can sort of imagine that Tesla could use this route to ship parts and batteries and goods between its various facilities here in North America. But it's also you know, the route kind of goes from Laredo through you know, set through the Phoenix area and then southern California and then up to Fremont. Interestingly,
it stops in Compton and in Bakersfield. There's a big kind of push to electrify, you know, electrify in neighborhoods that are low income, and so that you know, the Biden administration is very, very aware of the impact of diesel fuel on port communities, on low income communities, and so the the cities that are chosen are sort of interesting from that perspective as well.
Donna, You're completely right that the electrification story is just as much about commercial vehicle as it is the consumer car. What do we know about the production plans for the Tesla Semi.
Well, interestingly, I mean, they have been very slow to kind of get these vehicles out. You know, they made a big show of kind of turning over their first vehicles to PEPSI and Freedo Ay, and you know that company is definitely using them and piloting them and running them but in the last earnings report, Tesla in its deck said that the Semi is still in pilot production, and so you know it's going to be quite a while. I think before we see these in a massive scale.
I think Tesla is still learning a lot. I think the battery size is still a question for a lot of people, like how big is this battery? There was a recall earlier this year, so they're still they're still kind of working out the kinks, which is smart, right. You don't want to like make a ton of car, make a ton of Class eight trucks and then have to recall them. So I think it's just a very slow process, all right.
Bloombergs Dana Hole, I really encourage you to check out her reporting as well and what Tesla's doing with PEPSI Coo, you've been on the ground. The Tesla Semi going to be a big story going forward, but it's in the early stages of its production. Again, as we look at Tesla, shar's softer by almost three percent at this point, but seeing a lot of gains. Thank you to Bloomberg's Dana Hole.
Another big story, of course that we're watching is Uber earnings out the stock lowest and disappointment on the street. With that in mind, we welcome our Bloomberg radio and television audiences worldwide.
Joining us now.
The CEO of Uber, Dara koshra Shahi and Bloomberg's Emily chang with me on set in San Francisco.
Emily, thank you, and Dara, thank you so much for joining us.
It's good to have you back.
Look, I think investors are.
Reacting to a bit of a revenue miss, but your first gap profit reported ever. Talk to us a little bit about the discipline here and what kind of Troy says you had to make to make this happen in this macro environment.
Yeah.
Absolutely, we're very excited about this. It's a seminal moment for Uber to deliver gap operating profit, free cash role of over a billion dollars just in the quarter, along with a really strong strong top line. You look at a gross booking strow that was thirty three point six billion dollars, up eighteen percent on a constant currency basis. So I think the results both in terms of the top line and the bottom line have been second to
none and certainly leading in our industry. And it has taken a lot of cost discipline in terms of really looking at making that perfect match between a rider and a driver, or an eater and a courier and a restaurant, and making sure everything in that transaction happens perfectly with no errors, no mistakes, no cancelations, et cetera. And at the same time it takes a lot of cost discipline.
In terms of overheads. Our headcount has been flat, and if you look at our headcount compared to twenty nineteen pre pandemic, our total cat count is up ten percent during those years, and our growth bookings in the core business has been up eighty percent versus headcount growth of ten percent. So it absolutely has taken that discipline. But at the same time, the company continues to innovate and gain category position, which is what it's all about.
Now you've formally announced that CFO Nelson Chai will be leaving the company, which Bloomberg reported a few weeks ago. What is the interim plan and what are you looking for? Will this be an internal hire and external hire?
Yeah, so Nelson is going to be staying with us really through the balance of the year, up until early January, to make sure that we have a smooth succession plan. The next CFO is in seat and can be coached by Nelson as well. And really what I'm looking for
is another partner like Nelson. You know, Nelson came in in a very difficult time and teamed up with myself and the rest of the team, taking us through an environment of deep operating losses, taking us through the IPO, getting us a really strong balance sheet so that we could come out of the IPO and could deal with issues like the pandemic to where we are now, which
is a leading company. The next five years of her journey are about scaling and becoming that true global platform that can grow top line in a twenty percent range, can continue to innovate and continue to drive the kinds of margins and the incremental margin growth that we've been driving. Historically.
We told investors that incremental margins is a percentage of growth bookings growth will be seven plus percent, and consistently we've come in above that because we've been innovating but at the same time been disciplined at the bottom line. I'm looking for a partner who can deliver the next chapter of our growth, just like Nelson did. Ubertotato so to speak.
So let's talk.
About the EXECUTIVESUITE, the broader executives whit in that next chapter. Your CTO left back in twenty twenty one, was not replaced. How are you thinking about that role? Is there anyone particular in mind?
We actually our tech team is led by three different leaders. Sinji Jaine, who's our chief product officer, really thinking about the rider app, driver app, eater app, etc. Gus Foldner, who's thinking about the core services customer service, safety, insurance, etc. And then Albert Greenberg, who runs the infrastructure. You know, we are at a core a technology company, and instead of having one tech leader, we have three tech leaders, and that team has come together to drive outsize innovation.
When you look at driver upfront fares, when you look at her uber Keen's product, when you look at Tassi hailables, low cost our entry into new verticals, there's no company in the industry that's innovating at our speed or scale. And it's thanks thanks to the tech leaders that we have in house.
At this point.
To our global radio and television audience, you're listening to our conversation with U The CEO, Dara Koshushahi following that earning sprint. You know, Dara A look at the court of gone, number of trips, gross brookings, active drivers, demand and supply side all at records, strong gross booking forecast. Why wasn't that enough to kind of raise expectations for adjusted a bit DAR next year you'd said in February, I believe it'd be around five billion.
Well, I'm not a stock analyst. I can focus on running the company. And we guided for Q three adjusted
ibidal well abus Street estimates. We guide her for nine hundred and seventy five million to a billion twenty five, which was a Substanini shall increase versus expectations out there, and consistently, if you look at our track record, we've put out targets, we've consistently beaten those targets you by anywhere five ten plus percent, and we intend to beat that five billion dollar target, just as we've beaten every single target that we put in front of our investor.
So we think continued discipline, execution, strangths, top line growth, increased margins.
And more of the same, along.
With innovation is going to get us well beyond the five billion dollars.
The innovation piece really interesting. I liked Emily's question about the tech leadership. M's been all around San Francisco and a cruise. I've been all around San Francisco and a wayman, and I appreciate for our audience around the world. Jumping in a robotaxi with no driver is not yet a reality, but for lots of people that I asked on thread's Twitter LinkedIn, that's their question for you, Dara, when is Uber going to take that fleet of autonomous vehicles is more of a priority.
Well, we are very bullish on autonomous It's taking time. We have to make sure that the technology is safe, and we're partnering amongst all of the significant verticals that
we have. What are the unique aspects of Uber is not only are we global, not only are we the largest platform with the biggest audience one hundred and thirty seven million consumers coming to us every single month, but we operate in every significant vertical for autonomous passenger vehicles with Uber delivery, food and grocery delivery, delivery with eats, and then trade as well. Autonomous trucks are absolutely going to be a big part of our future. And if
you look at each one of those verticals. We're partnering with leading companies Waymo for example in passenger vehicles, Neuro and Serve, amongst others in delivery and then and trucking of course Aurora, with which we have a strategic investment as well. So we absolutely believe that autonomous is going to be part of the future and we are working to expose our leading marketplace to autonomous technology as it develops in a safe, efficient manner.
Well, speaking of another kind of technology, artificial intelligence instacarts now out with the chatbot door dash as well.
Is there an Uber bought in the works.
There's definitely going to be an Uber bought in the works. But I tell you that we have been working with machine learnings, artificial intelligence systems deep learning systems for years and years and years. Every time you get matched up with a car or get matched up with a courier, there are mL algorithms that are making that match. The pricing that happens time and day and distance, all of that is driven by machine learning algorithms. Well that has
been going on. Those algorithms only get better, and the data sets that we work with are the largest data sets globally, and the more data we have. The smarter we get, the more personal we can get. We are now focused more on productivity applications, so for example, introducing GitHub copilot for our developers, or helping summarize situations for customer service agents so that they already know context of what's going on with the particular customer and how they
can help. We will absolutely put our AI agents out there to help the consumer, but also don't forget about the driver drivers who are driving on our marketplace. They also want help where should I go, what right should I accept, etc. So we're also working on AI to power drivers and couriers so that they can make smarter decisions every day, to be able to earn flexibly, but to maximize their earnings based on their time.
So hang on, just to double down, there is an uber chat bought something that you're working on right now.
We're working on right now, absolutely, but it's a very very small part of the AI ecosystem.
In our global radio and television audience is listening to the CEO Dara Kroshashahi. Dara Uber is as close as anything the US and Europe has too an everything app something akin to what you might see in Southeast Asia. So I'm curious how closely you're paying attention to your crosstown neighbor, mister Musk and what X is doing within everything app.
Well, it's difficult to take your eyes off of what Musk is doing or read about what Evon is doing, and we do so because we want to learn and listen. It's pretty fun. But we are leading in terms of building out a super app. Remember to that in Southeast Asia we have a very significant strategic investment in grab As has mobility delivery payments on their app Kareem, which in which we have a big investment in mentally same
thing mobility delivery payments payments as well. So we're very very familiar with a super app concept and in the West, I do think Uber is the closest to achieving that super app. We want to be that operating system for your everyday life. Wherever you're going, whatever you want to get delivered, Uber is going to be there for you.
And I think that we are steadily moving along with the super app path, which is why we're gaining category or position against their competitors both in mobility and delivery, while delivering margins and being profitable as well.
Curious a free is part of that super app plan.
Dara.
I mean even you pointed out today that you know that is the weakness in the business. It does seem to be a drag on the business. What's the plan there to sell it, to spin it off?
Well, the plan is to build at this point, so Frede is absolutely suffering from the same kinds of trends that you see in terms of delivery of things in retail generally is a bit weaker than spend on services. You saw Yellow for example, big trucking firm go out of business yesterday. There's a lot of difficulty in terms of freight, in terms of freight rates, and freight is fighting its way through that. But we continue to innovate.
Even today. The way that shippers connected truckers is incredibly outmotive. There's a lot of paper, there is so much data. The pricing, the routing, etc. Is based on technology that was built twenty twenty five years ago. As we continue to innovate, and as we continue to focus on algorithmic pricing making that perfect match between a shipper and a trucker, we think over per to time we can build an asset of great value. So At this point, it's heads down.
The team is executing in a tough environment. Our losses are decreasing. We think the second half on a bottom line basis is going to be significantly better than the first half, and next year we're going to get back to growth.
All right.
Oh, thanks to Bloomberg's Emily Chang in that conversation with Uber CEO Dara Koshrashahi.
Morehead, stay with us. This is Bloomberg quick piece of news.
Atos is in talks to sell a legacy division to a private equity firm run by check billionaire Daniel Kratinski. The company plans to negotiate one hundred and ten million dollars in cash and transfer one point nine billion euros in debt.
To the buyer.
The proposed deal follows months of struggle for the French company after its IT outsourcing business was slow to adapt to the cloud.
All right.
Lux Capital raised one point one five billion dollars in April to invest in startups focused on science and so called deep technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics and biotech hits. Tell us more about how it's going. Lux Capital general partner Dina Shakir. We'll ask you one thing first, there's a dislocation right now between the backward looking data and all of the news headlines on this program about new funds being raised.
It seems like the environment's pretty good right now.
You know, it depends on how you look at it. There certainly is a lot of dry powder out there. Funds like ours are eager to invest in the cutting edge companies, especially in AI, but across lots of categories, including healthcare, which is where I spend a lot of time, and we believe this is going to be one of the most exciting vintages of companies to be born.
Yet how quickly have you got going? Then? Since April, we've.
Been very active. We've been announcing new deals in the AI space, in bio, we're investing in healthcare. More news to come there. So we've certainly been deploying. The pace of capital is not quite what it was at the height of the period of exuberance, and we think that's probably a good thing.
I know you as someone that's kind of deeply pensive, well connected in global silicon valley for one of a better expression. But on the other side of the table, where's the energy are there? Founders that are starting businesses in the space you care about. Are they trying to kick down your door for a check?
You know ed?
To be a founder is somewhat irrational, right, You have to have this sense of optimism, and to be a founder in this environment, you have to be even more resilient, to have even more grit. It is amazingly inspiring to see the founders that are coming to the table, to see the companies that are being born out of academic spinouts, to see incredible talent that has been laid off or otherwise unleashed out there building new companies. So we are
seeing amazing talent. It's certainly not easy, but that's why we believe they'll be even more successful than generations prior.
Digital health was quite interesting in the first half of the year. We've just entered the second half. I think it's something like six billion dollars two hundred and fifty deals or so. How does the second half look in that space? I know it's an area that you're focused on as an individual, but broadly, how does it look?
Yeah, if you look at the data in digital health specifically, you'll see there were quite a few deals done, but a lot of them were done by existing investors. There were rounds that were otherwise unlabeled, many extension rounds, companies really kicking the can down the road before raising a new round and a new valuation, because the valuations haven't quite caught up to where perhaps investors think that they should be. At some point those companies are going to
have to raise again. And I have to say, despite all of these headwinds, there are some categories like women's health, where as you know, I spend a lot of time that are actually continuing to see lots of activity and lots of interest.
The lux capital thesis is basically to look at corners of the market that have been overlooked to this point by investors, but just explain to the audience why that translates to an opportunity as an investor.
Absolutely, so we say we like to believe before it's obvious, and that's really what any good invest wants to do. Otherwise you're paying a hefty price when everybody already knows it's a good investment. So women's health is one area where we have been doing that for quite some time. We've deployed over one hundred million dollars into the space into companies with a combined valuation of over eight billion.
Of course, there are later stage companies like Maven, whose Series D we co led, as well as earlier stage companies, including ones that will be coming to light in a few months though we've actually helped incubate. We're looking at fertility. We're looking at companies that are prolonging ovarian longevity and delaying menopause. We're looking at companies in family health, in the pediatric space. Really across the board. This is an area that represents not only half the population, but women
control over eighty percent of the dollars in healthcare. So we think it's a massively underinvested in an undervalued opportunity to create value.
Dina quickly where geographically is the innovation happening in this space.
You know, it's interesting because we are in a post COVID world, so we're still seeing it all over the place. So definitely the coast areas. You know, lux itself is bi closal. So we see a lot of energy in New York, a lot of energy in Silicon Valley, but we're seeing innovation come out of Europe. We're seeing it come from various other places. Around the country and you know, hopefully more to come from elsewhere.
Lux Capital general partner dianash Kids. So good, let's catch up here in person in SF. Thank you all right, A quick time for going viral, which James Donaldson is no stranger of. Better known as mister Beast, the globally followed YouTuber has more than one hundred and seventy million subscribers to his channel, making him the most subscribed individual
on the platform the second most subscribed channel overall. In twenty twenty, Mister Beasts partnered with Virtual Dining and began selling burger and fry combos, tapping restaurants and commercial kitchens across the country that we're experiencing downtime due to the pandemic also known as ghost kitchens. Now, the YouTube star is suing his partner, saying the company sacrifice quality in
its bid for rapid expansion. Beast Investments sued for breach of contracts, asking a federal judge in Manhattan for the right to terminate his business relationship with Virtual Dining Concepts of Florida, company co founded by former Planet Hollywood executive Robert Earl. Anyone out there on social knows mister Bees, and we will continue to monitor that story.
Two days in.
That does it for this edition of Bloomberg Technology.
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