Uber sells 15% stake to SoftBank

SoftBank, a Japanese multinational telecommunications corporation, along with a group of investors has acquired 17.5% stake in Uber at a price of about US$ 33 per share. SoftBank will retain 15% stake, while the other investors including Drogoneer Investment Group and TPG will control the remaining 2.5% shares. The deal valued Uber at US$ 48 billion, 30% less than its recent valuation of US$ 68 billion.

According to Uber, existing investors had agreed to sell enough shares for SoftBank to proceed with the transaction. As part of the deal, the group of investors has also agreed to invest US$1.25 billion in the company. The deal will be closed early next year. Once the deal is completed, Uber's board will be expanded from 11 to 17 members.

The company has gone through a lot of turmoil over the past year. One of the founders of Uber, Travis Kalanick resigned from the CEO post in June 2017. He was pushed out of his position after five of Uber's investors demanded that he step down from his post as they felt that a change in leadership was necessary. The company was also involved in an intellectual property lawsuit filed by Waymo - Google's self-driving car business. Dara Khosroshahi replaced him in August. He has since promised to undertake major restructuring and also plans to take Uber public by 2019.

Source: Reuters