Ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies (UBER) appears to have unlocked the holy grail of corporate finance: nearly doubling its revenue in just three years while keeping its employee headcount virtually unchanged.
Data from Fiscal.ai shows that Uber’s revenue has surged over this period even as its corporate workforce has remained flat.
Uber has nearly doubled its revenue while keeping its employee count flat over the last 3 years.$UBER pic.twitter.com/iVfkaRLzJx
undefined Fiscal.ai (formerly FinChat) (@fiscal_ai) August 24, 2025
As reported by InvestorsObserver, Uber’s first-quarter revenues rose 14% year-over-year to $11.5 billion, climbing further to $12.6 billion in the second quarter. Analysts now expect the company to surpass $51 billion in sales for the full year.
On the surface, Uber’s revenue-to-headcount ratio looks impressive. But the headline figures tell only part of the story.
In 2024, Uber employed just over 31,000 people — a number that excludes drivers, who are classified as independent contractors rather than employees. Uber’s reported headcount only reflects its direct corporate staff, such as engineers, operations, support, sales, and HR.
Outside its core workforce, Uber relies on a vast gig network: in 2024, the company reported about 7.8 million drivers and couriers worldwide, who together completed 11.3 billion trips.
Critics contend that Uber has turned this workforce into “cash cows,” extracting more value from drivers without meaningfully increasing their compensation.
The criticism is particularly sharp for Uber Eats, where many drivers report declining pay following the rollout of the company’s dynamic pricing model.
A 2025 study from the University of Oxford reinforced these concerns, finding that while dynamic pricing has pushed passenger fares higher, it has also reduced driver earnings.
“The higher the value of the trip, the more of a cut Uber takes. So the more the customer pays, the less the driver actually earns per minute,” wrote lead author and associate professor Reuben Binns.
Uber shareholders reaping the rewards
As Uber’s gig workforce grapples with declining pay, shareholders are benefiting from the company’s margin expansion, operational efficiencies, business diversification, and cost-structure leverage.
Uber’s stock has surged more than 60% in 2025, hitting fresh all-time highs in both May and July. By comparison, the S&P 500 Index has gained around 10% over the same period.
This marked a welcome reversal from Uber’s post-IPO years, which were defined by persistent losses, heavy operating expenses, and a strategy that prioritized growth over financial stability.
Against this backdrop, Morgan Stanley analysts see further upside for Uber shares, recently lifting their price target to $115 from $95, implying nearly 20% upside from current levels.
As InvestorsObserver reported, Uber plans to deploy more than 20,000 electric vehicles over the next six years through partnerships with Lucid Motors and Nuro, the autonomous vehicle startup.
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