Regulators and taxi drivers protested ubers expansion on top of multiple investigations for deceiving authorities, Price Transparency violations, bribery and sexual harassment. Former uber ceo, dark Dara Khosrowshahi was brought in to fix it. Joining me today that uber headquarters in downtown san francisco, uber c. E. O. , Dara Khosrowshahi. Its been a long two years. Two years ago it was announced that you would be replacing former c. E. O. , travis kalanick. And even youve admitted you were the unlikely dark horse, even accidental choice. Two years later, did they make the right choice and did you make the right choice . Dara i know i made the right choice and i hope they made the right choice. Im confident that they did. You can never prepare yourself for a job like this and uber is a onceinageneration company. But its been a great two years for us. We have resolved all of the governance conflicts that the company had. There were many legal issues the company was involved with, as well. We have softbank in as a partner and you want softbank to be behind you and a big partner and big investor and we have a great investor base. Weve taken the Company Public and the company revenue, gross bookings have grown 75 since i joined. We now have a path to profitability, i believe. So while weve had bumps on the road and every adventure has bumps on the road, i like where we are and especially the position were in now for the next few years. Emily there have been bumps on the road and despite all the negative stories, Rideshare Companies have been transformational. Can uber be as transformational over the next decade as it has over the last decade . Dara we believe its brought transportation to what we believe is a small segment of the population. We have over four million driver partners all over the world, a huge number which is unparalleled but we want uber to be available to everybody and were going into the next step of introducing other transportation choices to uber. Weve always gone with pool but were testing buses in cairo now to even bring the price of uber down to the next level, a dollar, a buck 50, et cetera. Emily can uber be so transformational and stop losing money . The prices sound attractive but can you create a Good Business where the rides are a dollar, a dollar 50 . Dara yes, you look at our rideshare business, it covered our overhead less about 100 million. So the rideshare business itself is earning quite profitably and we believe the profits of the rideshare business not only are going to grow top line but bottom line, as well. And then there are other businesses eats, autonomous, trait, et cetera, extraordinarily opportunities that were funding but i believe well prove to our investors that we can take on a serial basis big parts of our business, turn them profitable, and use those parts of the business to Fund Business in the areas. Emily the stock trading below its i. P. O. Price more often than not. Investors seem to love shorting it. You have hiring freezes on various teams and fired some of your top level how confident are you that uber can be profitable . Dara very confident. We reported a loss from an accounting perspective and in the real world, our ebitda loss, were lower than q1 and were on a good path in terms of ebitda losses, as well. But youre right. None of this will be easy and will take excellent execution from all of our teams, marketing, et cetera, and well demand our employees to be doing more with less and to execute incredibly effectively in order for us to grow the top line and bottom line, as well. Emily is pricing the main lever you pull to profitability or are there other drivers . Dara scale. Its getting big when youve got over a billion rides per quarter and trips growing at 35 on a year on year basis. We think we can use technology to be more efficient. For example, instead of your having to email a Call Center Agent or call a Call Center Agent if you have issues, you can do it in an app. These are Technology Innovations that allow customers to have a better experience and bring down costs so the combination of growing top line over 30 , Technology Innovation to delight the customer and take down costs and good oldfashioned efficiency, making sure corporate costs dont grow as fast as our revenue is a formula to profitability. Emily ubers market cap is 50 some billion dollars. There was talk it could be 120 120 billion your compensation is tied to that. Can you still get there . Dara i believe we can. Short term, right now short term is nothing that we can do about the stock price. Theres an old saying that short term the stock market is a voting machine, long term its a weighing machine. I am very confident that this team can execute and create a very heavy company that can never be denied. Emily so west, how long does it take dara i think its in the next couple of quarters are going to show a road map to investors but it will take years. This is a shortterm game. But i believe we can demonstrate progress. For example, i talked about our net Revenue Growth accelerating the second half of the year. I talked about our Revenue Growth accelerating in the second half of the year beyond 30 and weve always been consistent in saying that the bottom line ebitda will continue to develop in a positive matter. Emily were in the midst of escalating trade tensions. How exposed is uber if the economy falters . Dara our company is much more tied in to the consumer and the consumer right now in the u. S. Is very strong. Were a very global company. The majority of our transactions actually are outside of the u. S. So we really look at Global Growth to the extent that Global Growth slows down, that could be a negative for us, although if Global Growth slows down, well have more driver partners also wanting to come on the platform because we expose very, very flexible labor opportunities. So i do think that the growth of the company is such that well be relatively resistant to any macro slowdown and were not seeing any slowdown with the u. S. Consumer as of yet. Emily whats plan b, if were in a fullblown trade war. Weve heard of investing in vietnam or brazil . Dara were an assetlight company so we dont have to buy cars, et cetera. Well be wary and make sure that our driver partners can source vehicles in an economic way. Many of them source vehicles through secondhand. Theyll source used vehicles, so to speak. So i think this trade war we havent felt it in small parts of the business where were importing bikes, for example, theres some additional expense but its not having a material effect on the company and were confident about growth over the next few quarters with or without a trade war. Emily youve asked people to think about uber like amazon. Amazon was an online bookstore before they did all this other stuff. What if now is the right time to focus on the core . Dara we have been in the ridesharing business for a long time, as well. And that business is developing and its profitability is developing. Were the top player in every market in which we compete and generally were either Holding Share or taking share in those market places so we have a core business that provides the framework for us to build multibillion dollar opportunities and i think it will be criminal if we dont take advantage of that. You are seeing more and more apps and companies that are building ecosystems, super apps, so to speak, especially in the east, for example, in china. Emily grab trying to do a super app, 10 cent. Is that the way to think about the future . Dara the super apps are winning and we can be the super app of transportation so to speak that allows us to acquire customers at a cheaper rate than our competitors and allows us to keep customers because we have a deeper relationship with them and we think if you can acquire customers and keep them longer, its a winning formula. Emily uber eats is what, 20 , 30 of the business . Dara yes and growing quickly. Were the Largest Global player out there and we continue in the category of food, we believe can be as large or even larger than the ridesharing category so we love that business and continue to invest in it. Emily there are so many competitors that do exactly what you do in this market and other markets. What if youre just subsidizing our meals and you dont win the market share and this is a giant hungry money pit . Dara early on, i think people could have accused the rides business of the same. It turns out that the rides business, you see it with ourselves and lyft, it is moving towards a path of profitability. As you build these businesses with the potential so big, there is subsidization that goes into the marketplace to create efficiencies. You need to get eaters and couriers and sign up restaurants and there is investment early on. There will always be competition in big categories. We have the advantage because we have hundreds of millions of consumers on the ride side that we can introduce to our brand and let them know that theres more to uber than just riding, but theres eating and other areas you can enjoy. Emily some of the businesses we hear less about, like scooters, havent heard a lot about scooters lately. Whats the likelihood you pull out of some of these businesses . Dara every business will have to execute and carry its weight, so to speak. Were a big believer in micromobility. Its in the early days. We believe in electric bikes. We believe in electric scooters and increasingly i think the mayors of the large cities all around the world are going to want to be interested in ways of moving people around that dont pollute, that dont create traffic, and we believe micromobility can be part of the solution. Emily would you curtail International Expansion in the short term . Dara every part of our business has to fight for money and if theyre not deserving money, theyre not going to get it. Believe me, internally, theres lots of creative destruction, theres lots of competition and if one part of our business isnt carrying its own weight, we will pull back. We pulled back out of china and we turned what was a 2 billion investment in cash into what can be a 10plus billion stake in didi, a very big ridesharing business in china, as well. In the end were looking to build a business. We want to build it the right way and in alignment with our partner society, et cetera. If somethings not working, we believe weve demonstrated the discipline to make the right call at the right time. Every management has their faults. Ive got my faults. But the fact is they built a Great Company and now theyve handed it to me and ive got to take that Great Company and make it even greater. Emily when we last visited there was a driver protest outside. Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg was out there with them. He said gig is another word for jobs. That means youre a worker and ought to be protected as a worker. There is support for legislation that would force Companies Like uber that rely on contract drivers and delivery people to make them fulltime. Why shouldnt they be fulltime . Dara they dont want to be fulltime. Some do. More than half of our drivers in the u. S. For example drive less than 10 hours with us a week and listen, right now california has a historic opportunity. Were at the table. We are having these discussions and we want to the get to a solution. Were offering 21 minimum an hour when youre driving on a platform. Were offering benefits and were offering a voice as far as how youre going to be treated going forward. 21 an hour compares to 12 an hour minimum wage. This is real money and these are real rides and you get the flexibility that every single uber driver or courier wants because they can come into the market when they want to or out. This is a historic opportunity to i think revolutionize the gig economy and i dont think gig is a type of work. To say theres only one way to work and Everyone Needs to be fulltime, et cetera, i dont think thats correct, because it takes away flexibility and flexibility is absolutely something that all of our drivers prize. Emily can you give them flexibility and give drivers and riders safety at the same time . Dara if the legislatures work in the interest of making something happen, absolutely. And you know were making very significant investments in safety as far as the safety center, tracking your ride, et cetera and we believe we are the leader in safety as far as transportation goes in the world and will continue to invest aggressively there. Emily were going to talk a little bit more about the future but before we go there i want to talk more about the past. The uber you took over had some toxic cultural issues. Illegal payoffs to police officers. Violence, sexual assaults, murder on the platform. Angry taxi drivers and a Management Team that turned a blind eye to much of it in the name of growth at all costs. Socalled brilliant jerks, if you will. Yet there are some people who say that leadership was bolder, brasher, bigger thinking, maybe better. How do you respond to that . Dara i think time will tell and i think you need different kinds of management for different times in the development of a company. The management every management has their faults. Ive got my faults and every Management Team at the time has their faults but the fact is theyve built a Great Company and theyve handed it to me and ive got to take that Great Company and make it even greater. I think im up to the job. While they made their mistakes, the fact is they built a great brand that had weaknesses and has incredible strengths. Its my job to take it to the next level. Emily anthony levandowski, who ran the trucking business that uber bought, was charged with dealing technology to google and dealing trade secrets. What do you make of those charges . Dara i wasnt here when we brought anthony on board but what i do know is that we went to incredible depths to make sure that any information that anthony might have acquired from google and it sure looked like he did, didnt make it over to our company. That was our responsibility and i think we were incredibly diligent in making sure that we were not guilty of anything that can be nefarious one way or the other. We think when you build, you have to build the right way. Anthony is talented. It didnt work out but i think we did the right thing. Emily the person who spearheaded that acquisition which might cost uber 100 million, is still on the board, travis kalanick. I asked you this on i. P. O. Day. Do you question travis position on the board . Dara i think that i am going to live in the here and now. Travis has an incredible amount of historical knowledge about the company. Hes incredibly bright, as are our other Board Members and i use him at the board hes a very strong adviser and his background on the company is incredibly useful and i think hes supportive. Ultimately now were a Public Company and the shareholders are going to get to pick their own board and that governance process will take care of itself going forward. Emily you talk to him often . Dara i talk to him during board meetings and once in a while offline, absolutely. Emily hes on the board for now . Dara hes on the board for now and will be on the board tomorrow. Fast forward 10, 15 years from now, autonomous is going to be a huge part of how people get around. It will be cheaper, it will be safer. Why not invest now. Emily lets talk about the future, then. To those who say that uber is a ridesharing and food delivery company, what is ubers next big idea . Dara i think that the ideas that we have right now in this building are plenty big ideas. Weve got ridesharing, weve got food delivery, we have micromobility, weve got autonomous. Weve got freight revolutionizing how truckers move around and how shippers ship product all over the world. Weve got elevate, as well. We have an enormous number of big ideas and now its execution time. Emily where is most of the technological innovation happening at uber . Dara it is happening all over. We are a combination of the digital and the physical and the two coming together in unique ways. So we have very interesting, for example, Machine Learning algorithms looking at live supply and demand in a city, what riders are looking for and where theyre located, and then giving our drivers guidelines as to where to go in order to meet that demand. This matching of supply and demand in a dynamic way and the pricing that we have is something thats unique. We continue to innovate there and then we innovate in different spots such as elevate as to how we can bring together different modes of transportation and tie them together walking, driving, helicopter, for example, now, to j. F. K. Emily youre in charge of not just visualizing the future of transportation but trying to get there and create that future. When you look into the future, what does the future of transportation look like . Dara we think we can bring it together. I believe we can have that singular app where every morning when you wake up, any way you want to get from point a to point b, we can give you the information that is relevant to you with live pricing, inventory, et cetera. We now have mass transit in the app so were going to tell you mass transit you can take subway, you can take a bus, you can take an uber or a pool or elevate, as well. We are uniquely positioned to have all that information together and we can do the same thing for transportation, the same thing for local commerce and with eats restaurants are only the beginning and we can do the same thing for logistics. No other company in the world is positioned to solve local transportation, local commerce, and logistics, as well, and i think were in a spearhead position to do so. Emily wheres uber in five years, 10 years . Dara with so much innovation and change going on, i have a hard time predicting for you whats going to happen in the next year but i do think what you will see us is increasingly going into multimodal modes of transportation. We are going to open up our marketplace to thirdparty