DoorDash sees record orders and users, but losses grow

DoorDash said Thursday that it saw a record number of orders and active users in the fourth quarter as it expanded overseas and gained market share at home.

The San Francisco-based delivery company said its monthly active users grew 28% to a record 34 million during the October-December period. DashPass members __ who pay $9.99 per month for free delivery on most orders __ grew 50% to 15 million.

DoorDash’s gross order value __ or the total of all orders on its platform __ rose 29% to an all-time high of $14.4 billion. That beat Wall Street’s forecast of $14 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Some of that growth came from Wolt Enterprises, the Finnish delivery service DoorDash acquired last year for $8.1 billion. Wolt operates in 22 countries where DoorDash previously had no presence, including Germany, Sweden, Hungary and Israel.

But Ravi Inukonda, DoorDash’s vice president of finance __ who was named chief financial officer on Thursday __ said DoorDash is also growing in the U.S., where its market share has climbed to near 60%. Excluding Wolt, DoorDash’s gross order value rose 20% to $13.4 billion.

Inukonda said DoorDash has confidence in its outlook this year because the company has grown despite inflation and economic headwinds. DoorDash expects gross order value between $60 billion and $63 billion this year, up from $53.4 billion in 2022.

“Food is relatively inelastic. People need to do that grocery shopping,” he said. “And we have a product and service that people love.”

Total orders grew 27% to 467 million. That beat Wall Street’s forecast of 459 million, according to analysts polled by FactSet. Fourth quarter revenue jumped 40% to $1.82 billion, also ahead of analysts’ forecast of $1.77 billion.

But profits remain elusive for the 10-year-old company. DoorDash said its net loss widened to $640 million, or $1.65 per share, as it expanded into new categories __ like a recently announced partnership with the beauty product store Sephora __ and integrated Wolt into its operations.

Wall Street had expected a loss of 67 cents per share.

DoorDash’s stock-based compensation costs rose and its research and development costs nearly doubled in the fourth quarter. Its net income was also impacted by restructuring charges. The company announced in December that it was laying off 1,250 workers __ or 6% of its workforce __ because it hired too many people when sales surged during the pandemic.