It’s not even been a day since Softbank decided to put in $2 billion in South East Asia’s Grab alongside Didi; there is a report on the involvement of Softbank in Uber, the U.S firm, which is the major rival of the above-mentioned companies.
According to a report published in the Wall Street Journal, Softbank is in touch with Uber regarding its goal to buy the multi-billion dollar stake in the company. Till today, Uber has raised nearly $12 billion from its investors and is currently valued at about $60 billion.
Softbank had also backed Ola, which is Uber’s main rival in India. There were many reports published that Softbank has been in the process of acquiring the shares of Uber since the future of the company looks very uncertain. There are many investors of Uber who are eager to sell off their stake to Softbank. A main concern for the shareholder started on the back of the departure of many C –Level employees, including CEO Travis Kalanick and VP Emil Micheals. It all started when a former engineer in Uber, Susan Fowler, alleged the company to have a culture of sexism and sexual harassment.
Reports state that any kind of investment that could provide fresh capital to the company will only happen after the appointment of a new CEO, which will take some time to happen.
SoftBank showcased its Vision Fund to the tune of $93 billion in May but has clearly declined to be involved in any potential investments. This is because the fund is not being invested in the ride-sharing company because of the conflict of interest with SoftBank Corp.
Neither Uber nor SoftBank has provided any comment on the report.
