Uber employees were reportedly worried when it was overtaken in value by food delivery rival DoorDash last week, so today’s 12 per cent boost to the share price ought to ease fears and tempt them to order a celebratory pizza through Uber Eats.

As Dave Lee in San Francisco reports, the reason for the rise is Uber announcing it is on course to report its first-ever profitable quarter, on an adjusted basis, after more than a decade of burning through billions of dollars in cash.

The ride-hailing group, whose stock had slumped 37 per cent since hitting a high in February, said it projected gross bookings for July to September this year would come in between $22.8bn and $23.2bn, with adjusted earnings of between minus $25m and $25m. Uber’s chief financial officer Nelson Chai said coming in below break-even would require a significant downturn in business during the remainder of September.