Uber to join S&P 500
Uber's joining the S&P 500, announced December 1, 2023. This is a massive milestone for a company that many people (including me) doubted would ever be consistently profitable.
Getting into the S&P 500 requires positive earnings in the most recent quarter and over the past four quarters. Uber delivered over $1 billion in profit across those four periods. That's a complete turnaround from their NYSE debut in 2019, when they were hemorrhaging cash with no clear path to profitability.
The earnings are coming from both mobility and delivery. Mobility's always been the stronger business, but seeing delivery turn profitable ahead of schedule is impressive. They finally figured out unit economics instead of just chasing growth.
Uber's replacing Sealed Air Corp, Alaska Air Group Inc, and SolarEdge Technologies Inc in the index. That means every S&P 500 index fund now has to buy Uber stock, which creates automatic demand. It's not just symbolic - this changes their investor base and stock dynamics.
I've questioned Uber's path to profitability for years, so seeing them actually achieve sustained earnings is worth acknowledging. They proved it's possible to build a profitable ride-sharing and delivery platform at scale. The question is whether they can keep this momentum going.
Update: Uber joined the S&P 100 in September 2025, elevating to the top 100 US companies—proving they could maintain and build on that profitability.