<iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-PHTV9K7" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden">
Loading
Skip to Main Content
Product cover image for Stock-Based Compensation and Share Buyback at Uber Technologies

Stock-Based Compensation and Share Buyback at Uber Technologies

Sa-Pyung Sean Shin, Seil Kim

Product #:W41283
Supplier:Ivey/NUS
Discipline:Accounting, Finance
Setting:2024
Details:Case (PDF) • 16 pages • 2025-03-20

Subjects:

Executive compensationFinance and investingAccounting

Industries:

Information technology and telecom sector
Your Price:$9.71

Purchase this material with a free Educator Account and enjoy more benefits:

  • Free Educator Copy
  • Free Teaching Notes
  • Build your coursepack
  • Discounted academic price

Multinational transportation company Uber Technologies Inc. (Uber), based in California, had consistently provided stock and options to its employees, leading to substantial stock-based compensation expenses. Instead of the metrics used in generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), Uber had emphasized a non-GAAP earnings metric that excluded stock-based compensation expenses because they did not involve any cash outflows. Despite this, the company had announced its first-ever stock repurchase in 2024 to counter the share dilution from stock-based compensation. This raised questions about whether stock-based compensation should still be considered a non-cash expense. An analyst working on a valuation of the company wondered how to incorporate Uber’s stock buyback into her valuation model: should Uber’s financial performance and compensation metrics still exclude the stock-based compensation expense?

Learning Objectives

This case, which covers financial accounting concepts related to stock-based compensation and stock repurchases, is appropriate for use in relation to the shareholders’ equity and share-based compensation chapters in intermediate financial accounting courses or financial statement analysis courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The case study examines Uber’s approach to addressing a common financial reporting issue in many IT companies: stock-based compensation. It helps students comprehend the financial statement implications of stock-based compensation and stock repurchases and consider how stock-based compensation should be factored into valuation.

After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:

  • Describe the accounting treatment for stock-based compensation and stock repurchases.
  • Evaluate whether stock-based compensation and stock repurchases are appropriate.
  • Consider whether adding back stock-based compensation in non-GAAP earnings is a useful metric for investors.
Loading
Case Study: Stock-Based Compensation and Share Buyback at Uber Technologies (English version) | Ivey Publishing