NEW YORK, Jan 2, 2026, 14:30 ET — Regular session
- Uber shares rose 0.9% to $82.48 in afternoon trading; Lyft gained 1.6% while DoorDash fell 1.5%.
- Britain said London private-hire operators can no longer use a tour-operator VAT scheme on fares, a change the Treasury said should raise about £700 million a year.
- Uber rewrote driver contracts outside London so it acts as an agent, shifting VAT responsibility to drivers in most cases, the Guardian reported.
Uber Technologies (UBER.N) shares were up 0.9% at $82.48 on Friday afternoon. The move came as investors tracked a UK tax change affecting ride-hailing economics and Uber’s contract rewrite for drivers outside London.
The timing matters because the UK’s value-added tax (VAT) — a sales tax — can quickly change what riders pay and what drivers earn. Those two levers often decide whether ride-hailing platforms can grow volumes without giving up margins.
Britain said on Friday that private-hire vehicle operators in London can no longer use the Tour Operators’ Margin Scheme (TOMS) to reduce VAT on fares. The Treasury said the change is expected to raise about £700 million a year.
TOMS is a niche VAT rule meant for tour operators and holiday trips that applies VAT to the profit on a trip rather than the full fare, typically lowering the effective VAT rate to about 4%, the Treasury said. The government said black cabs and smaller operators outside London would not be affected by the reform.
Uber has issued updated terms for drivers outside London so it acts as an agent rather than the supplier of the ride, meaning drivers contract directly with passengers and would charge VAT only if they are registered, the Guardian reported. Transport for London rules do not allow that agency model in the capital, leaving London trips subject to VAT on fares.
Most drivers are thought to be below the UK’s £90,000 annual threshold for VAT registration, so most fares outside London would avoid the 20% tax, the Guardian said. That structure reduces the risk of an immediate price jump outside London, but concentrates attention on how Uber prices trips in the capital.
In a November statement, Andrew Brem, Uber’s regional general manager for the UK, said: “The government’s action today to change the rules will mean higher prices for passengers in London.” Uber
In U.S. trading, ride-hailing peer Lyft rose 1.6%, while DoorDash — a closely watched delivery name — fell 1.5%. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF was up about 0.05%, while the Invesco QQQ was down about 0.3%.
Uber’s shares have traded between $60.17 and $101.99 over the last year, according to MarketBeat. With the stock well below that high, investors have been quick to reprice regulatory and tax developments that can alter take rates — the company’s cut of each trip — even before demand shifts show up in bookings.
Investors will watch whether Uber passes higher VAT costs on to riders in London, or absorbs some of the impact through its commission, and what that means for ride volumes. Any commentary on regional pricing and driver supply is likely to be scrutinized because it feeds directly into margin expectations.
The next major scheduled catalyst is earnings. Nasdaq lists Feb. 4, 2026 as Uber’s estimated next results date based on past reporting patterns, putting fresh guidance and any regional cost commentary back in focus.
Markets are also heading into a data-heavy start to 2026, with investors focused on U.S. economic releases — including the Jan. 9 jobs report — for clues on the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path, Reuters reported. Rate expectations can sway investor appetite for growth stocks, including consumer platforms such as Uber.
