Uber has three groups of investors waiting to provide funding to the company. But none of them care to put up money until a dispute between two important parties has been resolved.
Are these trials and tribulations hurting the business? Apparently not in terms of dollars and cents. Uber is currently valued at about $70 billion, and that seems unlikely to change.
Anton Levy of private equity firm General Atlantic, one of Uber’s investors, says neither he nor General Atlantic see any need to mark down the value of the company’s stock. The same is true for TPG Capital, which is a major investor.
However, says TPG Capital Partner David Trujillo, who recently replaced David Bonderman on Uber’s board, “If these issues aren’t addressed…it risks actually impacting the financial performance of the company and long-term value.”
Even in the face of the dispute, Uber’s board voted to move forward on proposals by three groups interested in investing in the company.
On August 13, Uber’s board voted to move forward with two investment offers and is considering another one. The board voted to take the next step on investment interest from SoftBank and to move ahead with a stock-buying proposal from a coalition led by Dragoneer Investment Group.
The board is still considering an offer from Shervin Peshevar, an early investor in the company, and a small coalition of other funders, to buy shares from Benchmark Capital and take over that company’s seat on the board.
On August 15, Bloomberg reported that Uber is in exclusive talks to line up funding from four investors in a potential $12 billion deal. If this arrangement goes through, funding would come from SoftBank, Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxiing, General Atlantic, and Dragoneer Investment Group. Another Chinese investment firm, Tencent Holdings, is also considering contributing funds to this round.
In addition to raising $1 billion to $1.5 billion for Uber at last year’s valuation, the deal would also allow a number of shareholders to cash out at a lower price than the current valuation. Depending on demand from sellers, the investors could spend anywhere from $2 billion to $10 billion to buy out shareholders’ stock.
The would-be investors are currently in their due diligence period, and the final details of the deal are still being worked out.
As long as former CEO Travis Kalanick and the board can iron out their differences, and the due diligence process works out well, the funding round should allow Uber to keep its valuation.
Photo: An Uber driver starts up the app. Credit: Pe3k / Shutterstock.com
