Uber has never been profitable

Most startups are never profitable especially in the unsexy spaces like travel agents, used car dealerships, etc.

I recall someone on HN pointing out years ago a curious detail about financial metrics, and how they made food delivery apps look FAR better for VC capital than they in reality are. The underlying reason: pass-through billing.

The food delivery startups accept payments, take their cut, and pay out to restaurants & drivers. From a purely financial viewpoint they're paying out a lot of money, perfectly normal in VC land. But they are also taking in an absolute mountain of money, and if you squint, can all look quite a bit like top-line revenue. If you then slice open the business operating costs, and look at how much it costs them internally (accounting only for salaries, rents and operating costs) to service a delivery, the per-unit revenue/cost figures are off the charts.

Physical retail intake, and virtual goods unit production costs. What's not to drool over?

It was an interesting point - and being thoroughly cynical, likely based in reality.