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SAN FRANCISCO Uber increased its bookings by 17 percent and shrunk its losses by 9 percentin the second quarter of this year, showing that the controversy surrounding the ride-hailing giant hasnt halted the companys growth.

Uber saw gross bookings of $8.7 billion, up 17 percent from the quarter before and doubled from the prior year, the ride-hailing company confirmed to this news organization Wednesday. And while the San Francisco-based company is making more money on rides, it also continues to successfully trim its massive losses. The worlds most valuable startup reported adjusted net losses of $645 million a drop of almost 9 percent from the quarter before, and 14 percent year-over-year.

Tech and politics news website Axiosfirst reported the numbers.

The ride-hailing startup had $6.6 billion in cash at the end of the second quarter, down from $7.2 billion the quarter before.

Recent scandals have tarnished the companys image, forced founder Travis Kalanickto resign as CEO, and plunged the board into a bitter power struggle that ended up in court. Uber recently brought former Attorney General Eric Holder in to investigate accusations sexual harassment, sexism and other inappropriate behavior at the company, leading to the firing of 20 employees. Uber also is fighting a lawsuit that claims the ride-hailing startup stole self-driving car trade secrets from rival Waymo. And Uber faces a criminal probe into its use of Greyball, a secretive software tool that employees used to evade law enforcement stings.

That series of events generated a publicity nightmare for Uber, spawning the #DeleteUber campaign, and giving smaller ride-hailing rival Lyft a push. But while Uber is attempting to clean up its image searching for a new CEO and implementing a laundry list of changes suggested by Holders team the company also has taken big steps to shrink its losses.

Last month Uber ceded control of the Russian market, merging with rival Yandex. A year ago, Uber sold its Chinese business to rival Didi Chuxing, after losing $2 billion during the two years it operated in the country.

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Uber reveals latest financials: Bookings up, losses down - The Mercury News