More Tech Earnings and the ‘Duh’ Economy

The high-flying pandemic darlings have crashed back to earth (Netflix, Zoom, Shopify). It seems only right that the companies hit worst by the pandemic should start to show signs of life again. 

And indeed, that’s what happened today. Uber’s ride business grew 55%. That’s wonderful news because it turns out the driver side of the business is far more profitable than the food-delivery side, which only rose 7%. Yes, stock in the onetime tech darling is still trading far below its initial public offering levels, but Uber isn’t dead. Far from it. The company turned cash flow positive for the first time! That didn’t look like a given in the depths of the pandemic, when revenue was cratering by double digits.

Meanwhile, Airbnb said today that in the second quarter its revenue rose 58% to $2.1 billion. Investors were rooting for more, so shares traded lower after hours. But any way you slice it, Airbnb has been in full recovery mode as well.