Uber's customers booked $193.5 billion of rides, deliveries and freight in its 2025 fiscal year. Uber's revenue that year was $52.0 billion.
The difference is what Uber does not record as its own: driver and merchant earnings, driver incentives, consumer discounts and refunds, plus the taxes and tolls inside the booking. This guide explains why, then why that share cannot be compared between platforms. Every company figure comes from a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
What is a platform business model? A platform connects the two sides of a sale and charges a fee for arranging it. When it acts as an agent, accounting standards let it report only that fee as revenue. The rest of the price passes to the seller.
Uber's Gross Bookings, the total value of what customers booked, were $193.5 billion in its 2025 fiscal year. Its revenue was $52.0 billion, or 26.9% of that.
Airbnb's revenue was 13.4% of the value of its guests' bookings. MercadoLibre's marketplace fee line was 19.6% of the value of goods sold through its marketplace.
Amazon publishes no total for what its third-party sellers sell, so the same share cannot be worked out for it.
Why is a platform's revenue smaller than what customers pay?
Accounting standards ask one question of every sale. Is the company the principal in the transaction, or the agent arranging it? A principal reports the whole price as revenue and the cost of what it sold as an expense. An agent reports only its fee.
Airbnb's annual report answers it directly. The company presents revenue net, as an agent, because it does not control the right to use the properties. It does not fulfil rental promises, bear inventory risk or set prices.
Uber reaches the same conclusion. Its filings say it is an agent that arranges for other parties to provide the service, so its revenue is net of what drivers and merchants earn.
Source: company Form 10-K filings, 2025 fiscal year; YX Insights
Chart 1 shows revenue as a share of the volume each platform reports, in the 2025 fiscal year. Uber is highest at 26.9% of Gross Bookings. MercadoLibre is 19.6%, using its commerce services line against Gross Merchandise Volume. Airbnb is 13.4% of Gross Booking Value.
Each company defines its volume differently, so the three bars do not measure the same thing.
Amazon is not in the chart. It publishes no total for what its third-party sellers sell, so no such share can be worked out.
Amazon also runs both models at once. It records gross revenue on items from its own inventory. On items sold by third-party sellers it records only its net share, a split worked through in What Is Revenue?.
What happens to revenue when Uber stops being responsible for the rides?
Uber's quarterly filing says it changed how it operates in certain markets in the United Kingdom from 2 January 2026, primarily for regulatory and tax reasons. It is no longer responsible for the rides there, so payments to drivers are now recorded as a reduction of revenue instead of a cost.
The riders, the drivers and the trips carried on. What changed is which party the filing treats as responsible. That moves the driver payments from one line to another.
Source: Uber Form 10-Q, quarter ended 30 June 2026; YX Insights
Chart 2 sets Uber's Mobility bookings against its Mobility revenue, for the second quarter of 2026 and the same quarter a year earlier. Bookings rose 22%, from $23,762 million to $28,988 million. Revenue rose 1%, from $7,288 million to $7,363 million.
Revenue was 30.7% of Mobility bookings in the earlier quarter against 25.4% in the later one. The filing says the change cut revenue by $1.1 billion in the quarter. Adding that back gives about 29.2%, so most of the fall is the change in presentation.
A take rate is revenue divided by the volume that passed through the platform. These four companies define that volume in four different ways.
Company | Volume measure | What that measure counts | 2025 fiscal year |
|---|---|---|---|
Uber | Gross Bookings | Taxes, tolls and fees included. No deduction for consumer discounts or refunds. Freight revenue counted in full. Driver tips excluded | $193.5 billion |
Airbnb | Gross Booking Value | Host earnings, service fees, cleaning fees and taxes, net of cancellations. Counted when booked, while revenue is recognised at check-in | $91.3 billion |
MercadoLibre | Gross Merchandise Volume | Marketplace transactions only. Classifieds excluded, although classified fees sit inside the revenue line compared with it | $65.0 billion |
Amazon | None published | No total for what sellers sell appears in the annual report, the quarterly report or the earnings release | Not disclosed |
Source: company Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings; YX Insights
The table gives each company's volume measure and what that measure counts.
Uber's Gross Bookings carry taxes, tolls and fees, with no deduction for consumer discounts or refunds. Airbnb's Gross Booking Value includes cleaning fees and taxes that its own revenue line leaves out.
MercadoLibre's Gross Merchandise Volume excludes Classifieds, the listings part of its marketplace, while the revenue line set against it includes classified fees, advertising and shipping. Amazon publishes no equivalent total at all.
Airbnb states the problem in its own filing. It is "not aware of any uniform standards for calculating these key metrics, which may hinder comparability with other companies".
None of the four reports a take rate as a figure. Uber's filing mentions a measure it calls Revenue Margin but gives no figure for it.
How does the revenue mix change what you read?
Source: MercadoLibre Form 10-Q, quarter ended 30 June 2026; YX Insights
Chart 3 breaks MercadoLibre's revenue into its reported lines for the second quarter of 2026. Commerce services, the marketplace fee line, was $4,301 million of a $10,169 million total, which is 42.3%.
So the marketplace is under half the company. Fintech, meaning its payments and credit business, was 43.3% of the quarter. First-party goods that MercadoLibre sells itself, recorded at full price, added 14.4%.
Amazon shows a different gap. Sellers accounted for 61% of paid units in that quarter, on Amazon's own count, while third-party seller services were 23.3% of net sales. Amazon's own online stores were 35.1%. Both facts hold, because one counts units and the other counts a fee.
Uber's mix changes with the measure too. Delivery was 47.3% of its bookings in the quarter but 37.0% of its revenue. Freight was 2.7% of bookings and 11.2% of revenue. Uber's definition of Gross Bookings counts Freight revenue in full, so Freight's revenue share is the larger one.
What a platform reports as revenue turns on whether it is the principal in the sale or the agent arranging it. Uber is the agent in most of its markets. That is why it recorded $52.0 billion of revenue on $193.5 billion of Gross Bookings in its 2025 fiscal year.
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Common questions about platform business models
What is a platform business model?
A platform connects a buyer with a seller and charges a fee for arranging the transaction. When it acts as an agent, accounting standards let it report the fee as revenue instead of the price the customer paid. Uber reported revenue of $52.0 billion in its 2025 fiscal year on Gross Bookings of $193.5 billion. Gross Bookings are the total value of what customers booked, including taxes, tolls and fees.
What is the difference between revenue and gross bookings?
Gross Bookings are the total value of what customers booked on the platform. Revenue is what the company records for itself. For Uber in its 2025 fiscal year the two were $193.5 billion and $52.0 billion. Uber acts as an agent in most of its markets, so its revenue is net of what drivers and merchants earn.
What is a take rate?
Revenue divided by the volume that passed through a platform. None of Uber, Airbnb, MercadoLibre or Amazon reports one as a figure. Each defines its volume differently, so ratios worked out from filings do not compare cleanly. Amazon publishes no volume total, so none can be worked out for it at all.
Is Amazon a marketplace or a retailer?
Both, depending on what is counted. Sellers accounted for 61% of paid units in the second quarter of 2026, on Amazon's own count. Third-party seller services were 23.3% of net sales, while Amazon's own online stores were 35.1%. A unit count and a revenue line measure different things.
DISCLAIMER: This article is strictly educational. Any information or analysis in this note is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Nothing in this note is intended to be investment advice and nor should it be relied upon to make investment decisions. Any opinions, analyses, or probabilities expressed in this note are those of the author as of the note's date of publication and are subject to change without notice.