Uber to sell stake to Softbank for $10bn
Ride-hailing app Uber has agreed to sell a stake of itself to Japanese investment group Softbank, for a figure believed to be $10bn.
Softbank and San-Francisco based partner Dragoneer are set to invest in the company, which has been dogged by a series of PR disasters in recent months.
Uber said the investment would be used to fuel the firm’s expansion and power further investments in new technology.
Disagreements in the tech firm’s board appear to have been resolved, as early investor Benchmark Capital had been adamant that former CEO Travis Kalanick step down and withdraw his influence from the company.
Kalanick resigned from his position as CEO following months of scandals and shareholder pressure, as well as the death of his mother in a boating accident.
Benchmark brought legal action in an attempt to rid the board of his influence, but both sides have agreed to the Softbank sale.
“We’ve entered into an agreement with a consortium led by SoftBank and Dragoneer on a potential investment,” an Uber spokesman said.
“We believe this agreement is a strong vote of confidence in Uber‘s long-term potential.”
Softbank is a major Japanese conglomerate which has made a habit of investing in tech firms in Silicon Valley, with the likes of Slack and WeWork already on the receiving end of major investments from the company, which also bought UK chipmaker ARM Holdings.
Uber last week failed to win its appeal to a London court over a ruling which upheld drivers' claims that they were entitled to benefits such as sick pay and paid holidays.
But over the weekend London Mayor Sadiq Khan recognised that Uber had apologised for mistakes and appeared ready to change after Transport for London refused to renew its licence in September, saying that it was not a fit and proper private car hire operator.