The Investors Most Likely to Sell Their Uber Stakes
Uber's valuation is reportedly down. That's according to Softbank's offer to buy shares of the ride-sharing company at a 30 percent discount. Axios' Dan Primack breaks down what this pending deal could mean for Uber.
The Japanese firm is leading a group that will purchase billions of dollars worth of shares from employees and investors at a $48 billion valuation, and invest about $1 billion in Uber at the previous valuation of $68 billion. Primack says most of this investment will go to early shareholders. The "unofficial" reason for the investment at the old valuation is that is the price Saudi Arabia's public investment fund bought in about a year ago.
Potential sellers, such as early investors and employees, have 20 business days to give Softbank an answer during the tender process. Primack called Softbank's price at a 30 percent discount an "opening bid," and doesn't see any way this deal is accomplished at this starting price. Ultimately, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi needs this deal to get done because it's tied to governance changes, says Primack. It will give Khosrowshahi and the board more control, and former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick less control.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
