Uber

Uber in brief

• Rank: #41 of 100 in America's Most Powerful 100 Brands 2026; #2 of 7 in Automotive & Mobility.
• WCRC Power Score: 73.87 out of 100.
• Founded: 2009, by Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick.
• Owner: Uber Technologies, Inc., San Francisco, California.
• Leadership: Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO.
• Latest revenue: $52.0bn revenue (FY2025, +18.3%), as per company filings.

What makes Uber powerful

Uber turned a tap on a phone into a ride, a meal or a grocery order. That habit now runs at enormous scale. In the third quarter of 2026, Uber handled 4.1 billion trips, up 16% from a year earlier, and served 215 million monthly active platform consumers. Since 2010, people have taken more than 83 billion trips on the platform.

The real strength is the link between its businesses. A rider who books a car is one tap away from Uber Eats, and the Uber One membership ties the two together. Uber One had about 55 million members in the third quarter of 2026. That loyalty loop keeps customers inside the app and makes each new service, from grocery to robotaxi rides, easier to sell.

Since its first rides in 2010, Uber's platform has carried more than 83 billion trips.

Why Uber ranks #41

Uber sits at #41 with a WCRC Power Score of 73.87, just behind Home Depot and Airbnb and just ahead of Colgate and Monster. The gaps here are tiny. Uber's case rests on huge daily use, a growing digital platform and a strong record in product and innovation. What holds it back is trust. Older household names like Colgate earned decades of goodwill, while Uber still carries the weight of regulatory fights and disputes over driver pay, which pull on its consumer trust and governance pillars.

The Achilles' heel

Uber's weak spot is trust in how it treats customers and workers. In April 2025 the US Federal Trade Commission sued Uber, alleging it charged people for Uber One without their consent and made the subscription hard to cancel. Self-driving cars add a second risk. Robotaxi operators could build their own apps and cut Uber out, so the company must keep winning partners to stay the default place to book a ride.

The 2026 story

Uber spent 2026 buying scale and preparing for driverless cars. In July 2026 it launched a cash takeover offer for Delivery Hero at 41.50 euros per share, valuing the German delivery group at about $14.8 billion. Delivery Hero's boards backed the offer, and Uber expects the deal to close in the second half of 2027. On November 4, 2026, Uber reported its fifth straight quarter of gross bookings growth of 20% or more. It also said it expects about 700 fully driverless vehicles on its platform by the end of 2026 and more than 2,000 in 2027.

Pillar profile

Uber's full 50-parameter profile is published on its World's Most Powerful 100 Brands 2026 page.

Versus its nearest rivals

Questions people ask

Also featured in

• Most powerful Automotive & Mobility brands
• America's 50 Most Valuable Brands
• American Global Powerhouses
• Most powerful brands in California

Key facts

Sources

• Annual report (Form 10-K) and financial results of Uber Technologies, Inc. filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission
• Company website, official announcements and press releases
• Published interviews and statements by the leadership
• WCRC Business Intelligence Unit research: consumer sentiment, ratings and reviews, search demand, media and social data