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Comment by steven2012 | Hacker News Reader

steven2012·

Are Uber drivers employees of Uber? Or are they contracted out, or independent, etc? If they aren't considered employees, then the $1B gross would not really be gross revenues under GAAP.

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So there's Uber and then Uber X. Uber X are independent people with their own cars, but the black car service (at least in the cities that I've been) is farmed out to an already-existing car service in the city.

Those employees are also often contractors of those companies...

What else would you call that number? It's basically sales. Revenue is how much they actually took in.

If they are a marketplace where the drivers are independent entities from Uber, then the money going to the drivers is not considered revenue under GAAP. Which is why I ask whether or not the drivers are Uber employees or not. I have no idea if they are or not. If they are Uber employees, then it is legitimate revenue, but if there is some agreement where they remain independent from Uber, then it would not, under GAAP.

Think about a site like Expedia, or Orbitz. They do not claim the entire price of the ticket as their revenue, since that money is going directly to the airlines. Their only revenue is the $10 they make from a ticket purchase.

This is the same issue that Groupon ran into pre-IPO where they were claiming the entire deal as their revenue.

By the title, it looks like they're working under GAAP rules. 1 billion gross, 213 million revenue. Gross would be the overall moneys that come in, $213mm would be what Uber grosses for itself, and the difference would be contractor payments.

I'm just speculating, of course, but if the title is to be believed, it supports what you're saying, I think.

You're correct. Which is why most reports of revenue for Uber, or even Airbnb, almost always use numbers in the hundreds of millions. However, both companies have gross sales in the billions.

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