This number excludes one billion that the transportation / tech company lost in the Asian market, making the numbers even worse than they officially are.

There is one positive thing in all of this Uber managed to double the gross booking revenue from 8.9 billion in 2015 to $20 billion in 2016. In 2014, Uber gross booking revenue was just $2.4 billion, while in 2013 the company made only $680 million in booking.

The $20 billion number include the total fares charged to app customers, before the drivers get their share. With a quick math sum, that means Uber makes some 30 percent out of the current business model.

The $2.8 + 1 billion loss - a total loss of $3.8 billion loss in a single year, would scare off most investors in most technology companies, but that's definitely not the case for Uber. It is probably going to lose a lot more money before it starts its real plan - to introduce a fleet of self-driving cars.

When that happens, the gross booking to revenue difference will get much closer than ever before. This is expected to happen as early as 2020, some two and a half years from now. This is only ten more quarters and it will come much faster than most people think.