San Francisco, Dec 3 (IANS): Ride-hailing major Uber is negotiating with California-based aerospace startup Joby Aviation for the sale of air taxi business Uber Elevate, Axios reported.

A deal is expected to be announced later this month, said the report on Wednesday, citing multiple unnamed sources.

Although Uber has not confirmed the talks, the report comes at a time when the company's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi attempts to register profitability for the company, including sale of money-losing segments of the business.

Uber Elevate was formed with the aims of "transforming the world" through aerial ridesharing at scale.

The company had a helicopter service in New York City, but it had to suspend operations due to the pandemic.

The pandemic in fact hit Uber's business hard.

Monthly gross bookings in its ride-hailing division fell 50 per cent in the July-September quarter, the company said last month.

However, gross bookings in Uber Eats grew 135 per cent year-over-year, thanks to increased demand for food and grocery deliveries.

Electric air taxi startup Joby Aviation has raised over $700 million from firms like Toyota, Intel and JetBlue, said the Axios report.