Share Buyback: Ride-hailing service provider Uber on February 14 said it would buy back up to $7 billion worth of company shares for the first time ever following a strong recovery in ride-share and healthy demand at its food delivery business.

The California-based company's shares rose nearly 6 per cent to $72.95 in trading before the bell.

CFO at Uber, Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, said, "Today's authorisation of our first-ever share repurchase program is a vote of confidence in the company's strong financial momentum."

Over the next three years, the ride-hailing firm expects gross bookings growth in the mid to high teens percentage and adjusted core profit growth in the high 30s to 40 per cent.

Free cash flow as a percentage of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation is expected to be 90 per cent or higher annually, the company said.

Following a slump during the pandemic, the ride-share market expanded sharply as people stepped out more and employees were called back to offices. That helped Uber more than double its market value last year.

The ride-hailing firm posted its first annual net profit last week since the company went public in 2019. Uber had a free cash flow of $3.4 billion in 2023, up from $390 million a year earlier.

Earlier this month, Meta Platforms declared its first dividend days ahead of social networking medium Facebook's 20th anniversary.