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Uber says it’s 'profitable' in the US — here’s how much it makes per ride

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Travis Kalanick
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.  REUTERS/Mike Blake

Uber has been pushing to reach profitability in the US and Canada by the second quarter of 2016, and the company now claims it’s made that goal, according to a new report by Bloomberg’s Eric Newcomer.

Just how profitable? Citing previously undisclosed financial documents, Bloomberg pegs Uber’s February US profit per ride at $0.19 (not including “interest, taxes, and equity-based compensation for employees").

Uber takes 25% of the average fare, but most of it goes toward things like marketing, customer support, and software development.

Uber says that it booked 50 million rides in the US and 169 million worldwide in March, according to Bloomberg.

But Uber’s (conditional) US profitability doesn’t mean it’s making money everywhere. Uber is burning money in China, where it says it’s losing more than $1 billion a year. This has worked to grow market share, according to CEO Travis Kalanick, who said in March that Uber’s China market share has growth from 1% to 2% in January 2015 to about 30%.

Uber is not globally profitable, and it lost $1.7 billion worldwide in the first three quarters of 2015, according to Bloomberg.

Uber was not immediately available for comment.

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Nathan McAlone
Nathan is the media and advertising editor for Business Insider and was previously the entertainment editor, as well as an editor and reporter for the tech section.He runs BI's media business team, which primarily covers the creator economy and the business of social media, the evolution of streaming, and the future of advertising.He edits the  CMO Insider newsletter, which features exclusive reporting on marketing and the creator space.He has overseen several award-winning projects at BI.He coedited Jason Guerrasio's feature on the rise and fall of MoviePass, which won a New York Press Club Award and a National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award from the Los Angeles Press Club.BI's reporting on MoviePass served as the basis for the HBO documentary "MoviePass MovieCrash." Nathan is interviewed in the documentary and was a consultant during production.He's worked on other stories that have won or been finalists for NAEJ Awards from the LA Press Club.They include:He mainly edits the work of reporters Lucia Moses, Lara O'ReillyDan Whateley, Sydney Bradley, and James Faris.Nathan graduated from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a master's degree in journalism in 2015, and from Columbia University in 2011.