Uber will be profitable in three years, says CEO

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has the job of turning around a business that has been losing billions per year. Photo/File.

Uber Technologies, whose losses have piled up in the quest for growth around the world, will be profitable within three years, said chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi.

Bending the company's financial trajectory out of the red would be a dramatic shift for the global ride-hailing service, which has been losing billions of dollars per year. Speaking to Bloomberg news editor-in-chief John Micklethwait at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Khosrowshahi said that even as the company would continue to be aggressive about expansion, it was finding ways to be more efficient.

Almost six months into his tenure leading Uber, Khosrowshahi is attempting to reverse what has been an unprecedented period of turmoil. The company is facing various government investigations, allegations of sexual harassment and increasing competition from rivals around the world. Khosrowshahi said his goal for 2018 is to "get back to normalcy" after the challenges left by former CEO Travis Kalanick.

"Breakneck growth can hide cultural issues," he said.

Read more on Uber's issues of sexual harassment here.

Khosrowshahi said the company was investing heavily in autonomous car technology and that it would begin adding the cars in some cities within 18 months. The vehicles will at first only carry passengers on select routes that will expand over time.

The company is also developing vehicles that will fly people to certain destinations within cities that Khosrowshahi predicted will be available for customers within 10 years.

Khosrowshahi has said he wants to take Uber public as early as next year, a process that would open the company's financial performance up to more scrutiny. The company recently finalized a deal that makes the Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp. its largest shareholder.

Rajeev Misra, a SoftBank executive joining Uber's board, suggested in a recent interview with the Financial Times that Uber focus on core markets such as the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Australia. In the interview at Davos, Khosrowshahi disagreed, saying the company would be "leaning forward" to expand.

Since taking over as CEO last summer, Khosrowshahi has been on a charm offensive to improve the company's image. He said the company must work more closely with regulators rather than the more combative approach it took with Kalanick.

Khosrowshahi said he's been working to change Uber's boorish corporate culture. He commended former Uber engineer Susan Fowler, who wrote a blog post about the company's sexist culture that led to an investigation at the company and a broader debate about the treatment of women in Silicon Valley and business. He called the fallout "difficult" but "one of the best things that happened at Uber" because of the changes it brought about.

He said the company still has work to do to make its culture more welcoming for women.