Uber names new CFO, stands by autonomous vehicle strategy

We’re sure there’s a great pun about driving, autonomous vehicles, and starting a new job, but we can’t think of it. So, here goes nothing.

Balaji Krishnamurthy, Uber’s VP of strategic finance, is stepping into the CFO seat, taking over from Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, who’ is leaving the company.

Mahendra-Rajah will leave his post on February 16, staying on as senior finance advisor until July 1.

“For those who don’t know Balaji, he is trusted by investors, knows Uber’s business inside and out, and is a brilliant, decisive strategist,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a filing announcing Krishnamurthy’s new post. “He has worked closely with me and our management team for years, and I am thrilled for him to step up as CFO as we kick off another big year for Uber.”

Krishnamurthy, who has spent the bulk of his six-year tenure at Uber in investor relations, is bullish and outspoken on autonomous vehicles.

Krishnamurthy’s job announcement arrived alongside Uber’s Q4 2025 earnings report. Throughout its Q4 presentation, Uber stuck by its autonomous vehicle approach, in which the company anticipates AV commercialization to take “much longer” than the technology itself. In the meantime, the company took a profit hit.

Net income for the quarter was $296 million, including a $1.6 billion “net headwind (pre-tax) from revaluations of Uber’s equity investments,” according to the company. Net income for the prior year was $6.88 billion.

On a February 4 earnings call, Khosrowshahi said the company is “more convinced than ever that AVs will unlock a multitrillion-dollar opportunity for Uber,” adding that “AVs amplify the fundamental strengths of our platform.”

By the end of this year, Uber expects “to be facilitating AV trips in as many as 15 cities globally, with a roughly even split of US and international cities,” Khosrowshahi said in prepared remarks. “And by 2029, we intend to be the largest facilitator of AV trips in the world.”