BIDU Baidu Inc

Uber Technologies Inc. has spent big to expand its ride-hailing service around the globe, a European regulatory filing showed, providing a rare look at the company's finances.

Uber said its international business lost $237 million in 2014, wider than its $32 million loss the previous year, according to a filing it made last month with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, which handles corporate registrations in the Netherlands. That was the most recent period for which the closely held company was required to report financial data to authorities in Amsterdam, the site of its international headquarters.

The filing applies to only one Uber subsidiary, Uber International C.V., and the extent to which it represents the company's overall international business is unclear. Still, the numbers reveal a large jump in spending from 2013 to 2014, a period in which Uber accelerated its international expansion. The company now operates in about 400 cities, up from fewer than 100 at the start of 2014.

Uber's international losses have likely grown even higher. Chief Executive Travis Kalanick, in an interview last month with Canadian publication Betakit, said his company is losing $1 billion a year just in China, where it launched in 2013 and is spending heavily to compete with homegrown rival Didi Kuaidi Joint Co. Uber said in October that about 30% of its total global trips were in China.

Mr. Kalanick said in that interview that Uber is profitable in the U.S. A spokeswoman for the company declined to say whether the statement factored in costs such as running its San Francisco headquarters.

"We're a rapidly growing company that is investing heavily to bring our service to more people in more cities," the Uber spokeswoman said in an email.

The Dutch filing is dated Feb. 3 but hadn't previously gained wide attention. It was reported on earlier Wednesday by Reuters, which cited Dutch broadcaster RT.

Revenue for Uber's international unit was $68 million in 2014, according to the filing. The company didn't disclose revenue for any previous year, nor provide the total amount of gross bookings, or fares paid by customers, which likely was much higher.

Both private and public companies in many countries must file paperwork with their national corporate registries, though only some classes of companies need to include publicly accessible profit-loss statements.

Uber has raised more than $10 billion in debt and equity as it races to expand around the world. The ride-hailing company and its competitors sink cash into subsidizing the cost of lower-priced rides to attract new passengers and giving out lucrative bonuses to attract new drivers.

LetterOne, an investment company founded by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman said last month that it has invested $200 million in Uber. Other overseas investors include Chinese search giant Baidu Inc., Indian publishing group Bennett Coleman & Co. and Qatar's sovereign-wealth fund.

Uber is raising customer fees in other parts of its business. On Wednesday, the company told San Francisco customers of its UberEats food-delivery service that it would add a new $1.50 delivery fee to each order. An Uber spokeswoman said the company has charged different delivery fees in each of the 10 U.S. cities where UberEats is available, as it experiments with pricing that works best in each market.

Sam Schechner contributed to this article.

Write to Douglas MacMillan at douglas.macmillan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 02, 2016 19:15 ET (00:15 GMT)

Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024

Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024