Uber's business continues to grow amid recent turmoil

NEW YORK - US car hailing giant Uber reported on Wednesday that its gross bookings rose 17 percent to $8.7 billion in the second quarter, as the company was still under the shadow of series of scandals earlier this year.

According to Uber, its adjusted net loss fell almost 9 percent quarter-over-quarter to $645 million and over 14 percent year-over-year.

The number of trips taken by global users increased 150 percent year-over-year, including 90-percent growth in developed markets and over 250-percent growth in developing markets, the start-up said. The growth number excludes China, which Uber exited last summer in exchange for an equity stake in Didi Chuxing, a Chinese car-hailing service company.

The financial information of Uber came after the Silicon Valley unicorn being through a well-publicized internal investigation into sexual harassment and other unsavory aspects of company culture, which led to the forced resignation of CEO Travis Kalanick in June.

Four US companies have recently trimmed the value of their investments in Uber, according to the Wall Street Journal.