President & Chief Operating Officer, Uber
Davos 2026 LIVE | In Conversation Andrew Macdonald, President & Chief Operating Officer, Uber | WEF
Uber President Andrew Macdonald is said to be one of the creators of the gig economy, a term that turned sticky in India not too long ago. Don't miss this conversation between Shereen Bhan & Macdonald, who is responsible for Uber's mobility, delivery & autonomous businesses. #MustWatch
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About Andrew Macdonald
In a January 2026 interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Macdonald discussed Uber's financial performance, reporting $50 billion in annual revenue and over 30% growth in India. He described Uber as "as strong as ever" and stated that the company's business model has proven robust. Macdonald outlined plans to expand in India, including integrating train bookings into the Uber platform, increasing access to two-wheelers, and developing premium products. He characterized Uber as "the largest platform for work in the world" and expressed openness to bringing benefits and protections to drivers in India, while noting that flexible work remains a key attraction for platform earners. During a March 2020 TechTO event, Macdonald discussed Uber's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that the company's first decision-making principle was empathy for employees and platform users. He noted that Uber's rides app displayed a message advising users to "stay home if you can" and to use the service only for essential transportation. Macdonald advised businesses to "make quick aggressive decisions to preserve your runway" during crises and encouraged companies to use their "superpower" to help their communities)Skip
Transcript (35 segments)
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Host0:03
Welcome back. You're watching our continuing coverage here from Davos 2026. As I've been telling you, today is the day that President Trump is expected to arrive here in Davos. 3 hours behind schedule, and that's because Air Force One had a technical snag. He had to go back, reboard, and then depart. I was just joking. Perhaps he should have Ubered. It may have gotten here on time. Joining us now to talk about Uber's plans globally, but more importantly their plans to double down on India. Andrew, many thanks for joining us here on CNBC TV8. It's great to have you.
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Andrew Macdonald0:34
Happy to be here and happy to hear transportation logistics continue to be complex.
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Host0:38
They do, they are complex, but you know even in a complex world numbers are holding up for you. You've had a good year. 50 billion in annual revenue. IA grew over 30%, 9 billion in cash. So the business is looking strong.
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Andrew Macdonald0:52
Yeah. Yeah, I mean Uber's as strong as ever. We feel really great. Our consumers are really strong. The growth of our driver and courier base continues to surprise even our own internal estimates. We're seeing global strength, I would say, in the sense that it's not just a US story. It's not just an international story. We're seeing both strength in the US and international. And of course, our business in India is doing great.
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Host1:14
Well, let's talk a little bit about your business in India. You know it is of course one of your key markets not just from a logistics point of view and a mobility point of view but also from a technology perspective. Lay out for me what the year ahead for India for Uber will look like.
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Andrew Macdonald1:29
So you're right from a technology perspective. I mean first off I'd say we have tremendous talent in India. The Uber team in India is great. It's our largest engineering center outside the Bay Area. And we're continuing to grow the center. We're doing a lot of our new AI work out of our India team. So we've got a program called Uber AI solutions which is really participating almost as a human in the loop in AI development and that's being innovated out of India for Uber globally. Clients all over the world. Most of the team is in India that's building that offering. But it's super compelling. It's new. It's interesting. We're participating in government technology schemes which I think is a really interesting approach to try to grow marketplace businesses across a number of sectors. And a lot of our global products actually debut in India. India is a tremendously competitive environment. Competition brings the best out of us and we're seeing a lot of awesome stuff.
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Host2:25
Has the competitive intensity increased or you know is it status quo there?
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Andrew Macdonald2:30
India's always been competitively intense. You know it's not a question of growth for us in India. It's you know how sustainable is that growth and what I give credit to the ecosystem for is there's new players that pop up, they innovate, they bring new business models, they bring lower cost products which I think are popular with Indian consumers. So it's as intense as ever but I think we're faring well in that competition and again a lot of what we're learning in India is making its way into our 75 countries around the world and that's a good thing.
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Host2:58
What's been the biggest learning from India that you're taking to the world?
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Andrew Macdonald3:02
I think your ability to continue to innovate on the consumer experience while being mindful of price is really really critical. I mean we're a marketplace business at the end of the day. We're trying to meet the needs of both the drivers and couriers who earn money on our platform and consumers who depend on us for services and actually that balancing act is challenging and in India I think it's probably the hardest market for that balancing act and it's made us better on both fronts.
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Host3:26
You know you have now restarted M&A. Is India likely to see some action on that front for you?
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Andrew Macdonald3:32
You know, I never love speculating on M&A. I think there's lots of interesting technology companies in India that of course we'll take a look at and you know for us we've been doing deals that make sense for our customers that make sense for our platform. You know Uber's increasingly becoming a daily use case and so if we can plug more modes of moving or give you more access to local selection in your city then we're going to do that either organically or through M&A.
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Host3:54
Well, you know, you talked about how Uber wants to position itself as a daily use service. What will that mean in India? You know, you exited the Uber Eats business, but you're now re-entering that space via ODC. Take me through the new bets and the new avenues that you hope to double down on in India.
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Andrew Macdonald4:12
We've got a tremendous driver base in India, right? And we've got drivers who use cars as their vehicles, three-wheelers or two wheelers, and increasingly that sort of two and three-wheeler section of the market is also doing deliveries. And so our ability to actually give our drivers more opportunity to either do consumer to consumer package delivery or fulfill for retailers. I think that's interesting in India. So no plans to re-enter the food delivery market. But I do think you'll see us experimenting and growing some segments that sort of further complement our offerings.
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Host4:45
What would make most sense within that basket that you're looking at the adjacencies that you would consider?
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Andrew Macdonald4:50
Well, look on the transportation side, I think there's a real opportunity for us to just make mobility as a service a real thing in India. So, you know, we see tremendous growth in our business always at airports. That's a natural use case for Uber. That's one people think of top of mind. But we're also incredibly integrated in the train system. We see first and last mile trips to and from train stations. And so, one of the things we like to do is give consumers the ability to book an end to end journey. Buy your train ticket through Uber, take your Uber trip to the station and then take it on the other end. That's something that we're experimenting with. We're using ODC as part of that effort and I think it's really interesting and you'll see us do more.
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Host5:27
Well, you know, this transition from not just a ride hailing platform to becoming a daily use service. Where do you find yourself on that journey on that arc globally today?
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Andrew Macdonald5:38
It depends a little bit on the market and look what I'll say is where the consumer need is greatest is where we see the highest engagement. So in places where maybe the public transit infrastructure isn't as good or isn't as safe, places with lower levels of individual car ownership, in these places this is where we see people truly think of Uber for their daily journeys. Every time they leave the house they think of Uber. That's critical for us. So I think you know there's an opportunity in markets and I often hear when folks talk about India they talk about let's skip to the next generation of technology. I think there's an opportunity for a lot of Indian consumers to skip to mobility as a service as opposed to needing to own two cars in their household or something like that.
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Host6:17
You know one of the interesting things that we've been of course talking about in India is the rise of the gig economy and Uber has been a part of that as well. There are of course regulatory headwinds. There are changes that have come in. There's a gig work framework. I mean have you looked at those changes and what that could potentially mean?
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Andrew Macdonald6:34
So for us, you know, one of the ways you can think about Uber is the largest platform for work in the world. And people choose Uber for flexible work. Anytime you talk to a driver, whether that's in India or any other country we operate in, generally the first thing they're going to tell you is they love the flexibility of Uber. And of course, the next thing they're going to say is dependable earnings also matter. And then the third thing they're going to say is I also need some level of benefits and protections, you know, and gig work is a really important part of the economy. I think it's growing the economy, but one of the things we've been doing is bringing the benefits and protections and this is true all over the world to gig work. And so we're open to doing that in India. I think it's an important conversation. We've had a really good labor environment in India and I think it will continue to be so.
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Host7:18
You know, I want to talk a little bit about AI. I also want to talk about autonomous cars. Your partnership with Waymo. Are we likely to see more collaborations, more partnerships in the future?
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Andrew Macdonald7:26
Yeah, I mean Uber's explicit strategy is to be the destination for AVs all over the world and from all providers. And so whether you're an automotive OEM that's building the hardware platform for vehicles, whether you're an L4 software player, whether you're a fleet that actually buys AVs, we want you to put those AVs on Uber and you're going to get the best utilization and we can bring them to new consumers in our hybrid network alongside human drivers. We think that's the best go to market path for AVs. We're going to continue to execute that strategy and that means you're going to continue to see us announce more partnerships. We've got 24 AV partners around the world. We're continuing to add to that number. We've got four deployments live with AVs. We're going to continue to add to that number. So, it's a really exciting path for us.
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Host8:12
But anywhere close to an inflection point as far as adoption is concerned at scale?
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Andrew Macdonald8:16
I think we're certainly at an inflection point in the technology. I mean the technology problem is largely solved and now it's about building a business model around that technology and it's about scale and so the technology inflection point has happened and now you're going to see scaling start to happen and that will happen over the next couple years.
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Host8:34
So what do you see as the key constraints today for the business? What do you see as the chief risk for the business today?
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Andrew Macdonald8:38
I mean we have a lot of large numbers challenge. We are a big global platform. As you say our revenue is growing, our cash is growing but we continue to just be interested in bringing more consumers into Uber, innovating and adding new products that people will use and continuing to grow the top of the business. So that's the biggest challenge for me.
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Host8:58
But also the convergence between revenue and profitability. Do you believe that you're now on a steady path?
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Andrew Macdonald9:04
Oh, I do. I think we've proven that our business model is strong. Our priority is continuing to improve the consumer experience, continuing to improve the experience of the 9 million people around the world who earn money on Uber and if we do those two things then I think profitability will continue to be on a good track.
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Host9:22
So let me end by asking you what are you most excited about for 2026 for Uber globally but more importantly for Uber in India.
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Andrew Macdonald9:29
I think I'll start with Uber and India. I think the Indian consumer is going to be treated to continued innovation in our product set. I think the Uber experience in India is going to improve. I think everything from big things like launching new modes of transportation to small things that just making sure the car gets to you when you order it, those are going to improve dramatically in India in 2026. And globally, it's about innovation. It's about Uber truly becoming the global platform for AVs. It's about Uber truly becoming the broad platform for local commerce. You can get anything in your city delivered at any time. If we do those things, it's going to be a great year for Uber.
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Host10:07
New modes of transportation. Give us a sense of what we can expect for India.
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Andrew Macdonald10:12
Trains on Uber. I think more access to two wheelers on Uber. I think better premium products and innovating at the luxury end of the market. You know, these are going to be some things that come.
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Host10:22
Well, we look forward to hearing more from you and we look forward to you unveiling those plans in India. Andrew, it's been a pleasure. Thanks very much for joining us in Davos and we look forward to seeing you back in India as well.
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Andrew Macdonald10:33
Thank you so much. I'm coming to India in a few months.
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Host10:35
Well, we look forward to seeing you then. Well, that is Uber's view on what the road ahead looks like for 2026. Lots of interesting plans for India. We'll keep you posted on those developments right here on CNBC TV18. We're going to take a break, but our conversations will continue. We're right back with you from Davos 2026.