Uber Is Reworking Its Playbook for World Domination

Sitting in his glass-walled office in Berlin with an open suit jacket, casually tieless, Christoph Weigler looks every bit the part of a Silicon Valley startup executive. But the Uber general manager for Germany isn’t talking about dominance or disruption. Weigler instead prefers discussing rules and regulations: “Companies in general need to abide by them.” As for Uber’s famously brash tactics, he said, “It was very obvious that was not the way we could succeed here.”

As the ride-hailing giant prepares for an initial public offering next year, Uber is gearing up to tell investors that much of its growth will come from food delivery, self-driving cars and scooters. Uber Technologies Inc.’s core business of moving passengers in people’s cars has largely plateaued. In most major markets around the world, it has either won or retreated. But thanks to a more diplomatic approach pioneered by Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi, there are a few markets that hold newly tantalizing possibilities.