Uber investors sell at big discount, but still make billions
DETROIT — Investors in the Uber ride-hailing service didn’t get all they wanted in selling at least part of their holdings to a group led by Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank.
But don’t show them too much sympathy.
Even though they sold at roughly a 30 per cent discount from what the shares were worth in 2016, those who invested early made nearly 100 times their initial stake, going from around 35 cents per share to just under $33, according to one investor who requested anonymity because the sales are private.
Uber was valued around $68.5 billion during a 2016 capital investment, but it dropped to somewhere above $48 billion in the SoftBank deal announced last week. The reasons for the discount are many, among them the seemingly endless string of scandals, lawsuits and fights that plagued Uber through almost all of 2017. Also, competition has gotten tougher from Lyft and Grab in the U.S. as well as Ola in India and several emerging services elsewhere.