Uber Q3 2026: Bookings Up 20%, Revenue Up 10% — a UK Accounting Change Explains the Gap

Uber's revenue grew 10% in the third quarter of 2026, but the business grew about twice that. Gross bookings, the total customers paid, rose 20% to $59.8 billion on 16% more trips. The gap is an accounting change, not a slowdown: since January, Uber acts as an agent rather than the service provider in certain UK markets, so the drivers' share no longer counts as Uber's revenue, which removed $1.1 billion from the revenue line, and the same amount from costs. Operating income, which the change does not touch, rose 30% to $1.4 billion. GAAP net income fell to $512 million from $6.6 billion, but last year's figure included a $4.9 billion one-time tax benefit.

Gross bookings grew 20%; revenue grew 10%​

Trips rose 16% to 4.1 billion and gross bookings 20% to $59,819 million (earnings release). Revenue rose only 10% to $14,766 million, and Uber says "business model changes negatively impacted total revenue YoY growth by 8 percentage points." The effect is concentrated in Mobility: its gross bookings rose 18% to $29,512 million while its revenue fell 2% to $7,520 million. Delivery, untouched by the change, grew bookings 22% and revenue 23%, to $5,488 million.

The 10-Q explains the mechanism. Effective January 2, 2026, "we are no longer responsible for the Mobility services in these markets, and accordingly, payments to drivers are recorded as a reduction of revenue instead of cost of revenue." In accounting terms Uber moved from principal to agent in those markets: a principal reports what the rider pays as revenue and what it pays the driver as a cost; an agent reports only its fee. Profit is the same either way. Revenue and cost of revenue both shrink by the drivers' share, which is why Mobility's segment operating income rose 27% to $2,362 million in the same quarter its revenue fell.

The ledger shows revenue and cost shrinking together​

Each row is one reported period: revenue as a negative credit, cost of revenue as a debit, and Equity:Adjustments as net income. In this ledger cost of revenue includes depreciation and amortization, which Uber reports as a separate line. It was 60.2% of revenue for FY2025 and 58.0% in the third quarter, by our computation. Two changes produced that drop. The UK change takes driver payments out of both lines, and from July Uber reclassified some network costs from cost of revenue to operating expenses "with no impact on operating income." A reader comparing gross margins across 2026 is comparing different definitions. The comparison that survives both changes is operating income against gross bookings, the measure Uber itself highlights: non-GAAP operating income reached 3.9% of bookings, up from 3.4%.

The FY2026Q3 rows show $569 million of net income in Equity:Adjustments. That is net income including non-controlling interests, the line the statement of operations reports before attribution; $512 million of it is attributable to Uber, the figure behind its $0.25 of diluted EPS. The period file records the split in a comment.

Net income fell 92% against a one-time tax benefit​

GAAP net income attributable to Uber fell to $512 million from $6,626 million. The release notes that the third quarter of 2025 "includes a $4.9 billion benefit from a tax valuation release and a $1.5 billion net benefit (pre-tax) from revaluations of Uber's equity investments." This year the same revaluations cost money: a $476 million net pre-tax loss, including $354 million on Grab and $239 million on Aurora, offset by a $161 million gain on Didi. Uber's non-GAAP EPS, which strips out the revaluations, rose 35% to $0.88.

The treemap shows where the quarter's revenue went: $8,561 million of cost of revenue including depreciation, $3,485 million of operations, marketing and administration, $1,273 million of R&D and a $634 million net other expense led by the revaluation losses.

Cash flow funded $4.3 billion of buybacks, and new euro debt arrived​

Free cash flow rose 14% to $2,535 million. Uber repurchased $754 million of stock in the third quarter and $4,281 million since January, and shares outstanding fell to 2,039 million from 2,068 million at the end of 2025. In September it issued €4.5 billion of senior notes, about $5.2 billion, and repaid a $2.0 billion term loan.

A liability is a credit, so higher debt plots lower. Long-term debt held between $8.3 billion and $10.7 billion from 2021 through June 2026, and rose to $15,664 million on September 30. Unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were $10.1 billion.

What to watch in the fourth quarter​

• Bookings guide. Uber expects gross bookings of $63.25 billion to $65.25 billion, 18% to 22% growth in constant currency, and non-GAAP EPS of $0.95 to $0.99. Revenue growth will keep trailing bookings until the UK change laps in January 2027.
• Take rate. Total revenue per dollar of bookings fell to 24.7% from 27.1%, and Mobility's to 25.5% from 30.6%, by our computation, mostly because of the UK change. A further fall in markets the change does not cover would be a pricing signal, not an accounting one.
• Investment marks. Stakes in Grab, Aurora and Didi will keep moving GAAP net income each quarter; operating income is the line to track.
• Autonomous vehicles. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi expects about 700 fully driverless vehicles on Uber by year-end and more than 2,000 in 2027.