Uber Q2 losses go down as bookings go up

San Francisco

UBER Technologies Inc on Wednesday reported a 16 per cent increase in quarterly bookings and a smaller loss than the previous period as the ride services company showed signs of inching towards profitability.

The shrinking losses reflect Uber's efforts to rein in massive spending on subsidies for both drivers and customers even as it battles rivals in tough markets such as South Asia.

The San Francisco-based company said that it lost US$645 million in the second quarter, 9 per cent less than the US$708 million loss in the first quarter and 35 per cent less than the U…