Uber Freight had a strong third quarter, with the highest gross bookings in its history, but the gains in revenue have yet to translate into operating profitability.

The company’s CEO Rebecca Tinucci posted about the results on LinkedIn, saying it’s possible for two realities to exist: the business is seeing massive growth, and it’s still facing significant challenges on the path to profitability.

Gross bookings were $1.768 billion, a record for Uber Freight and up approximately 34% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2026. Revenue also continued to climb, increasing to $1.768 billion in the third quarter from $1.583 billion in the second, up 11.6%.

Despite the turnaround in financial performance, the company did record another operating loss. Uber Freight posted an adjusted operating loss of $33 million in the quarter.

Brokerage activity in North America is rising strongly

In reviewing the results, Tinucci pointed to a number of operational indicators that were not included in the prepared earnings statement of the parent company.

Revenue was up about 35% year over year, the CEO said, helped by a 36% increase in brokerage volumes in the U.S. and Canada. This performance is even more remarkable given the relatively flat freight volumes across the wider industry.

Revenue per load also rose about 8 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. In the interim, the average loads handled per employee per day, a key productivity metric in freight brokerage, rose about 10% versus the third quarter of 2025.

These figures demonstrate the company’s ability to grow its business and enhance its operational efficiency in a relatively challenging freight environment.

Year-on-year improvement but profitability is a challenge

Uber Freight has had a hard time being consistently profitable. Looking at operating income or EBITDA, the company has been positive only a few times.

Tinucci, however, called the latest financial results proof of steady progress toward profitability. The adjusted operating loss of $33 million is an 18% improvement compared with the same quarter last year.

She also noted this was after the company had set aside $17 million in enhanced employee liquidity programs and targeted investments.

Another indicator, he said, is the improvement in the segment’s operating margin over gross bookings, compared to last year.

The quarterly comparison, however, shows a less favorable trend. The operating loss increased to $33 million in the third quarter from $24 million in the second quarter. Consequently, operating income as a percentage of gross bookings was -1.9%, compared to -1.5% in the prior quarter.

That consecutive decline is an improvement on the -3.1% last seen in the third quarter of last year.

Beyond digital brokerage: a broader transportation management strategy

Uber Freight is often called a digital freight brokerage platform but a big portion of its business is from legacy Transplace, which Uber announced it would acquire in 2021.

The acquisition added a transportation management system (TMS) for shippers to Uber Freight’s operations, broadening its role beyond freight brokerage.

Tinucci also outlined the company’s longer-term ambition through its Transportation Orchestration strategy. The goal is to enable customers to independently and continuously improve their transportation networks.

Realizing that vision will take a mix of insights from the $18 billion of freight the company manages, its technology, logistics know-how and access to transportation capacity.

“This is an ambitious effort and will take a number of quarters to execute,” the CEO said.

A record quarter, but significant progress still required

Concluding her LinkedIn statement, Tinucci returned to the idea that strong growth and the ongoing pursuit of profitability can exist simultaneously.

She described the third quarter as the strongest since joining Uber Freight, highlighting improvements in revenue, volumes and profitability. At the same time, she stressed that the company still has considerable ground to cover before reaching its broader financial objectives.

Interestingly, Uber Freight was not specifically discussed during the parent company's earnings call with analysts. However, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi publicly expressed his support for the freight division through a post on X.

The latest results therefore reflect a business experiencing substantial commercial growth and improving its annual financial performance, while still facing the challenge of converting that momentum into sustainable operating profits.