UBER - Uber Technologies, Inc.
38.66 +0.35 (0.91%)
Pre-market: 7:51AM EST
| Previous close | 40.72 |
| Open | 38.21 |
| Bid | 38.33 x 1300 |
| Ask | 38.74 x 900 |
| Day's range | 37.75 - 39.14 |
| 52-week range | 25.58 - 47.08 |
| Volume | 36,765,969 |
| Avg. volume | 29,671,381 |
| Market cap | 65.766B |
| Beta (5Y monthly) | N/A |
| PE ratio (TTM) | N/A |
| EPS (TTM) | -6.81 |
| Earnings date | 05 Feb 2020 |
| Forward dividend & yield | N/A (N/A) |
| Ex-dividend date | N/A |
| 1y target est | 48.42 |
- Bloomberg
Gojek Says It’s Not in Talks With Rival Grab About a Merger
(Bloomberg) -- Indonesia’s Gojek denied a report that it’s discussing a merger with rival Grab Holdings Inc., a deal that would combine the leading ride-hailing businesses in Southeast Asia.“There are no plans for any sort of merger and recent media reports regarding discussions of this nature are not accurate,” Gojek said in an emailed statement Tuesday.Management teams from the two companies have talked occasionally over the past few years about a deal, and Grab President Ming Maa and Gojek Co-Chief Executive Officer Andre Soelistyo met earlier this month for the latest discussion, The Information reported, citing people familiar with the matter. While talks are believed to be ongoing, a big roadblock to a deal is agreeing on control of the combined entity, according to the report.Any deal would also likely face regulatory hurdles because it would combine the top two players in the region, reducing competition in ride-hailing and newer fields like food-delivery and finance. Grab and Gojek, valued at $14 billion and $10 billion respectively, used to compete with Uber Technologies Inc. before the U.S. company sold its operations in the region to Grab in 2018, retaining about a 27.5% stake.That deal drew the ire of regulators, who weren’t given a say ahead of time. Singapore ultimately fined Uber and Grab the equivalent of $9.5 million, but let the combination stand.A Grab spokesperson declined to comment on the report.To contact the reporter on this story: Yoolim Lee in Singapore at yoolim@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Edwin ChanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- IPO-Edge.com
IPO Edge’s Jannarone: Ignore the Dental Lobby and Focus on This Metric at SmileDirectClub – Cheddar
The American Dental Association as well as various state dental boards have made an organized attack on SmileDirectClub, Inc. in an effort to protect their turf, but savvy investors should look past Big Dental and focus instead on the orthodontics disruptor’s massive profit potential. That’s according to IPO Edge Editor John Jannarone, who spoke to […]
- Zacks
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Crowdstrike, Uber, Slack, Zendesk and Zuora
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Crowdstrike, Uber, Slack, Zendesk and Zuora
- Zacks
Lyft Purchases US Car-Top Advertising Startup Halo Cars
The Halo Cars buyout may present a good source of revenue for Lyft (LYFT) and is a step toward its profitability target.
- Yahoo Finance
Amex, Facebook, Uber among those raking in millions from 2020 contenders
By the numbers, here is how 2020 contenders are spending their money, and where.
- Reuters
Lyft buys digital car-top advertising startup Halo Cars
Lyft did not comment on the financing of the deal. Halo Cars was founded in 2018 and has operations in U.S. markets such as New York and Chicago. Lyft and larger rival Uber Technologies Inc, both based in San Francisco, are pursuing different roads in search of profitability, with Uber pouring money into side businesses which have so far lost money and Lyft focusing solely on moving people around.
- Bloomberg
Peloton Shares to Be Freed Early, Conjuring Tech Lock-Up Deja Vu
(Bloomberg) -- A pivotal moment next week for at-home fitness provider Peloton Interactive Inc. could conjure up memories of last year’s releases of newly-issued stock by technology companies -- moves that rattled investors and led to heightened volatility for Lyft Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc.Come Monday, some 90% of Peloton’s shares outstanding will be freed up, opening the first window for insiders and early investors to sell since the company’s September initial public offering. This particular lock-up -- similar to Lyft’s -- expires short of the traditional 180-day lock-up period that most companies follow.Meanwhile, Peloton shares at the recent close of around $27 are below its $29 IPO price. Analysts cited the early lock-up as a near-term risk to shares. MKM’s Rohit Kulkarni, in a report published Friday, said that unlike Uber and Lyft, almost all locked-up shares as well as vested stock options “have significant positive returns,” which could lead to downward pressure in the near-term.Lock-ups “created volatility for other recent tech IPOs,” in anticipation of pent up selling pressure, although the stocks tended to bounce back in the days following the expiration, BofA analyst Justin Post said in a telephone interview.Recalling Lyft and Uber’s volatility around their lock-up expirations, Raymond James analyst Justin Patterson said that it “coincided with negative regulatory headlines. And unique to Uber was a former executive selling fairly aggressively into the market.” By contrast, Peloton’s founders remain at the company.The date was moved up because Peloton’s lock-up expiry would have fallen during a blackout period that would bar insiders from selling, according to a Feb. 5 filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission when the company reported earnings. A highlight of the filing was the company’s estimate of shares outstanding -- 317 million. That figure includes options that have or will be vested as of Feb. 24, as well as some 273 million convertible Class B shares eligible to be sold in the public market.Analysts using the 280 million shares outstanding that were cited in Peloton’s quarterly report have some math homework to do before Monday.Based on JPMorgan’s estimate of roughly 277 million shares that will unlock for insiders and early investors, about 87% of Peloton’s estimated 317 million shares outstanding stands to be freed. That would include 144 million shares held by affiliates and 133 million shares held by non-affiliates.Tiger Global Management and Peloton Chief Executive Officer John Foley are among the largest affiliates, with roughly 15% and 6.1% holdings respectively, according to JPMorgan. Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) has 6%. Fidelity, which owns 5% of shares outstanding, and Comcast, with 3.3%, are not counted among affiliates, according to JPMorgan. Tiger Global and Fidelity declined to comment. TCV deferred to the company to answer questions while Peloton declined to comment.To contact the reporter on this story: Crystal Kim in New York at ckim426@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brad Olesen at bolesen3@bloomberg.net, Scott Schnipper, Cristin FlanaganFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
Virgin Galactic's Share Price Has Left the Stratosphere
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- A year ago Richard Branson was on his private island, Necker, when the former Twitter executive Adam Bain came to see him with a proposal for how to take Branson’s suborbital space travel company public.The bearded British billionaire is doubtless glad he took the meeting: After an unsteady start, Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc.’s valuation has rocketed. The stock has surged more than 400% since a low in December, valuing the company at close to $8 billion, or almost 2,000 times the revenues it’s estimated to have generated in 2019. (For comparison, Uber Technologies Inc. trades on about 5.5 times last year’s revenue).Vieco USA, a Virgin-controlled entity, still owns more than half of the shares,(1) meaning Branson’s net worth — estimated by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index at about $5 billion before the listing — is suddenly a whole lot bigger. The loss-making company is now his most valuable asset. There haven’t been any big company developments to justify such market euphoria, which makes you wonder whether it’s sustainable. The stock gains since the start of this year are about double those enjoyed by Tesla Inc.’s rip-snorting shares.Several hedge funds, including Suvretta Capital Management, which owns 3.4% of Virgin Galactic’s equity, have profited from the surge but plenty of its peers are betting that a meeting with cold reality is inevitable. About 30% of the free float has been shorted, according to IHS Markit data. This space battle isn’t for the fainthearted, and there’s a danger that overenthusiastic retail investors end up getting hurt. On Thursday, the stock rose as much as 13%, erased all those gains, then fell as much as 18%, before closing broadly unchanged.In fairness, Virgin Galactic’s technical achievements are impressive, even inspiring. Branson’s company has spent years perfecting its product, giving it a head start in the nascent space tourism business. At $250,000 a ticket for a 90-minute flight (including a few minutes of zero-gravity weightlessness) it could prove to be pretty lucrative. The company might have almost $600 million of yearly revenue by 2023, according to a management projection.But, as I’ve noted before, a lot can go wrong when your business is carrying tourists into suborbital space and twitchy regulators are poring over your every move. Any unexpected delays or interruptions (never mind an accident) would cause the stock to swiftly lose altitude.As with Elon Musk’s Tesla faithful, Virgin Galactic’s fans don’t seem too bothered by these near-term challenges. One hope among investors is that the company will use the technology and experience gained from ferrying tourists into space to build a potentially far more lucrative market: intercontinental hypersonic flight.Yet the regulatory hurdles to launching such flights will be daunting. Perfecting the technology will require much more than the $430 million in net proceeds that Virgin Galactic received from the listing.(2)It’s conceivable, then, that the huge run-up in the stock — if sustained — might tempt Branson to raise more money, just as Tesla did last week with a $2 billion stock offering. The investor enthusiasm shown for Branson’s company won’t have escaped Musk’s attention either. His Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) has had no trouble raising money in private markets; it’s been valued at about $33 billion. But the Tesla founder is also considering a public offering of SpaceX’s internet offshoot, Starlink, in a few years, and any market fervor around space investing would make that easier. A hard landing for Virgin Galactic investors could change the dynamic.For now, Branson could afford to splash out on another private island if he wanted. Or maybe some acreage on the moon. (1) Vieco owns a 58.6% stake and Branson is the beneficial owner of 80.7% of that, according to this filing.(2) Virgin Galactic could receive a further cash boost if warrants conveying the right to purchase a total of 31 million shares are exercised for cash.To contact the author of this story: Chris Bryant at cbryant32@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Boxell at jboxell@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Chris Bryant is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies. He previously worked for the Financial Times.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
SoftBank’s Son to Pitch U.S. Investors Under Cloud of WeWork
(Bloomberg) -- Masayoshi Son will head to New York next month for the first time since the implosion of WeWork, seeking to persuade hedge funds and institutional investors that the fortunes of SoftBank Group Corp. have turned since the disastrous investment.The Japanese billionaire is scheduled to address investors on March 2. There, he could point to the approved sale of Sprint Corp., a rally in Uber Technologies Inc. shares and Elliott Management Corp.’s purchase of SoftBank stock as signs of progress at his company, said people familiar with the plans. It’s unclear where WeWork will fit into the agenda.Within SoftBank, there’s disagreement about how to convey the company’s strategy. Son, 62, is known for his eccentric financial presentations, which have included a “hypothetical illustration” of WeWork profitability and stock photos of ocean waves and calm waters. One memorable slide from 2014 contained only a drawing of a goose and the words: “SoftBank = Goose.” Many staff at headquarters in Tokyo love the founder’s showmanship, but some senior executives are exasperated and argue a clearer and more sober message is needed, said people familiar with internal discussions who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.Ultimately, Son will decide. He has downplayed any pressure from Elliott, a New York-based activist investor that disclosed a nearly $3 billion stake in SoftBank this month. Son called Elliott an “important partner” and said he’s in broad agreement with the investor’s arguments for buybacks and increasing the stock price. Son has signaled less receptiveness to Elliott’s other suggestions: selling more of the stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and reining in the Vision Fund, a $100 billion investment vehicle that accounted for more than $10 billion of losses in the past two quarters.In private meetings with SoftBank, Elliott raised issues over the clarity of SoftBank’s strategy, people familiar with the talks said. SoftBank is planning to make hires within its investor relations department to help shape the message to shareholders. SoftBank declined to comment. A spokesperson for Elliott declined to comment.“Right now, serious heat is being applied on Son,” said Justin Tang, head of Asian research at United First Partners in Singapore. “Son has to be seen actually doing something.”Son’s heading into the meeting with one win under his belt: T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint have agreed to new terms for their pending merger, a key step toward completing a transaction that will unload the loss-making carrier and unlock new capital for SoftBank. Its shares rose as much as 3.3% in Tokyo Friday.T-Mobile, Sprint Renew Deal as Merger Clears Regulatory HurdlesAlthough next month’s event was scheduled before Elliott disclosed its stake and is not designed to specifically address the activist investor’s involvement, it will be a focus for attendees, said people familiar with the preparations. Executives are bracing for questions about Elliott’s intentions and how far the shareholder will go to boost the stock’s value.Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is organizing the March event, the people said. The firm, which helped Japan’s Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. in their dealings with activist investors, is vying for the job of advising SoftBank on Elliott, said a different person said. However, SoftBank is likely to manage the relationship in-house, another person said. The job may fall to Marcelo Claure, the chief operating officer who’s helping oversee the WeWork debacle; Katsunori Sago, the chief strategy officer and a former Goldman Sachs executive; or Ron Fisher, a director and trusted adviser to Son. A Goldman representative declined to comment on SoftBank.Dogs and PizzaSoftBank is recovering from a series of stumbles in recent months. WeWork’s plan to go public last year imploded, forcing SoftBank to arrange a rescue financing of $9.5 billion in October. Uber, despite a two-month surge, is still trading about 10% below last year’s offering price. The Vision Fund has suffered other high-profile setbacks, including investments in failed online retailer Brandless Inc., dog-walking app Wag Labs Inc. and pizza robot company Zume Pizza Inc.Elliott has said it took the stake in SoftBank because the Japanese company’s shares are woefully undervalued compared with its assets. Son himself has been pleading the case with increasing frequency. SoftBank’s own sum-of-parts calculation puts its total value at 12,300 yen a share ($111). That’s more than double SoftBank’s actual share price, which values the company at about $104 billion. Elliott has pegged SoftBank’s net asset value at about $230 billion, people familiar with the discussions have said.The disconnect between what SoftBank and Elliott say the company is worth and the market value can be explained by several quirks of how the business is run, according to a report from Pierre Ferragu, an analyst at New Street Research. Many shareholders would like the company to return more capital and improve its governance, he wrote. Risks associated with the Vision Fund and a lack of details about tax liabilities associated with cashing out its investments are other factors.SoftBank recognized the need for more oversight as early as 2018, when it charged Claure with a broad review of operations across SoftBank companies. Claure, the former head of Sprint, spent months assembling a team of about 40 executives. In the end, he was forced to cede control of the so-called SoftBank Operating Group to the man it was supposed to be overseeing: Rajeev Misra, the head of the Vision Fund.Elliott wants SoftBank to set up a special committee to review investment processes at the Vision Fund. Elliott argues the fund has dragged down the share price despite making up a small portion of assets under management, said people familiar with the discussions.Some at SoftBank are resistant to the idea of an oversight committee. Instead, SoftBank is seeking to resolve issues at the Vision Fund with new governance standards for the companies it invests in. The new rules will encompass how the fund approaches the composition of the board of directors, founder and management rights, rights of shareholders, and mitigation of potential conflicts of interest.Son has conceded that missteps with the original fund is making it difficult to raise money for a successor. He said last week that SoftBank may need to invest in startups using solely its own capital for a year or two.‘Black Swan’Elliott is also calling for a buyback of as much as $20 billion. A repurchase of that scale could boost SoftBank’s shares by 40%, Ferragu estimated. SoftBank’s last share repurchase was announced about a year ago, a record 600 billion yen. It sparked a rally that pushed the stock to its highest price in about two decades.Selling Alibaba shares to pay for a buyback, as Elliott has proposed, could be a point of contention with Son. In the past, Son has used the shares as collateral to borrow money for big acquisitions, including the $32 billion purchase of chip designer ARM Holdings. Son said last week during a quarterly financial briefing that he’d prefer to sell as little as possible and that there’s “no rush” to do so.SoftBank said on Wednesday it plans to borrow as much as $4.5 billion against shares of its Japanese telecom unit. The company, which had 3.8 trillion yen of cash and equivalents at the end of December, said it was raising capital for operations. SoftBank’s debt load exceeds $120 billion.Son’s reliance on debt is raising alarms, said Tang, the financial analyst. “He’s going to get wiped out if there is some black swan event,” Tang said. “SoftBank needs to de-leverage, and the best way to do it is to sell the Alibaba stake.”Elliott has a tradition of using strong-arm tactics to get its way with target companies, but there’s little chance of that happening with SoftBank. Elliott’s stake enables it to call an emergency shareholder meeting, but pushing through a proposal without the founder’s backing is a long shot. Son, who often goes by the nickname Masa, controls more than a quarter of SoftBank stock through various vehicles, and the company bylaws require two-thirds of votes to pass any proposal made through the board, according to a person with knowledge of the rules.“Unless everyone is against him,” said Tang, “it’s not possible to dislodge Masa.”(Updates with share action in the seventh paragraph)\--With assistance from Scott Deveau.To contact the reporters on this story: Pavel Alpeyev in Tokyo at palpeyev@bloomberg.net;Giles Turner in London at gturner35@bloomberg.net;Takahiko Hyuga in Tokyo at thyuga@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Mark Milian, Colum MurphyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
Masa and His Bankers Grab a Shared Ride
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. is investing more than $700 million in Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab. It’s a three-way deal in which everyone gets what they currently lack.The Japanese megabank and the Singapore-headquartered “superapp,” a one-stop online shop spanning food to finance, get to plug gaps in their businesses. They also keep one of Grab’s existing backers sweet: Softbank Group Corp.’s founder Masayoshi Son will avoid the possibility of an inconvenient cash call from one of his most promising unicorns.It's no secret that Japanese banks are under pressure to expand overseas as negative interest rates bite at home. Fast-growing Southeast Asia offers an alternative. But there's a catch. Consumer spending in countries like Indonesia, where MUFG owns PT Bank Danamon, is going digital very rapidly — the region’s internet economy is expected to triple to $300 billion by 2025. That’s a lucrative pie for all banks and fintech firms. However, Japan’s banks aren’t exactly known for their digital spurs. Backing Grab gives the biggest Japanese lender a chance to earn them. MUFG intends to market a range of financial services from insurance to loans to Grab’s users, Taiga Uranaka of Bloomberg News reported Wednesday. What’s in it for Grab? After acquiring Uber Technologies Inc.’s Southeast Asian operations two years ago, Grab is transforming itself from a ride-hailing service into an umbrella app with finance at its core. It hopes to pick up an online-only banking license in Singapore this summer. That alone will require Grab and its partner Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. to bring S$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) in capital. Expanding the model elsewhere will be tricky if the unicorn relies too much on SoftBank and its Vision Fund, which it tapped for $1.5 billion last year.Enter MUFG, which has plenty of capital to underwrite credit risk in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines — countries where it already controls local retail banks. Those units can score borrowers looking for loans on the Grab app, as well as put up the actual funding. Having the regional network of a deep-pocketed Japanese institution in its corner should help Grab compete better against rival superapp Gojek, which has allied itself with Singapore's largest lender, DBS Group Holdings Ltd.(1)As for SoftBank, there must be huge sighs of relief all around. A core startup in its $100 billion Vision Fund’s portfolio won’t be relying on it for more cash. That’s one less mouth to feed in the wake of disastrous bets like office-sharing group WeWork — on which SoftBank took a $4.6 billion writedown — and dog-walking app Wag. SoftBank last week reported a 99% slump in operating profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31, and unveiled plans Thursday to borrow as much as 500 billion yen ($4.5 billion) by putting up shares of its Japanese telecom unit as collateral. Amid widening losses and mass layoffs at Oyo Hotels and Homes, a big SoftBank bet in India, funding Grab’s ambitious expansion is probably beyond Son’s present reach. And Grab must know that constraint.Yet, as Morningstar Inc. analyst Michael Makdad puts it, SoftBank is one of the biggest corporate borrowers for Japanese banks, one no large lender can afford to ignore or annoy. Writing a check for Grab gives MUFG a welcome chance to iron out any wrinkles from last year when it reportedly balked at contributing to a rescue package for WeWork. Learning new digital banking skills it can bring to its home market will be a bonus. Grab has plenty of room for Masa and his bankers to share the ride. (1) Interestingly, MUFG's leasing affiliate invested an undisclosed sum in Gojek last year.To contact the authors of this story: Nisha Gopalan at ngopalan3@bloomberg.netAndy Mukherjee at amukherjee@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Matthew Brooker at mbrooker1@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Nisha Gopalan is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals and banking. She previously worked for the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones as an editor and a reporter.Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies and financial services. He previously was a columnist for Reuters Breakingviews. He has also worked for the Straits Times, ET NOW and Bloomberg News.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Business Wire
Uber CEO to Participate in a Keynote at the Morgan Stanley 2020 SF Technology, Media & Telecom Conference
Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) announced today that Dara Khosrowshahi, Chief Executive Officer, will participate in a keynote at the Morgan Stanley 2020 Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on Wednesday, March 4th. Mr. Khosrowshahi is scheduled to appear at 9:45 A.M. Pacific Time (PT).
- Reuters
Uber returns to Colombia less than a month after exit
Uber Technologies Inc resumed transporting passengers in Colombia on Thursday with a new service model that allows users to rent cars with drivers, just 20 days after it exited the Andean country following a ruling by regulators which the company described as arbitrary. The Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC), which regulates fair competition and protects consumers, in December ruled Uber had violated competition rules. Uber said on Feb. 3 it was considering taking the ruling to international arbitration, noting that it violated a U.S.-Colombia trade deal and that damages from suspending its service could exceed $250 million (194.13 million pounds).
- Zacks
Is Uber Technologies (UBER) Stock Outpacing Its Computer and Technology Peers This Year?
Is (UBER) Outperforming Other Computer and Technology Stocks This Year?
- Bloomberg
SoftBank Climbs on Plan to Borrow $4.5 Billion Via Telecom Stock
(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp.’s stock climbed after it unveiled plans to borrow as much as 500 billion yen ($4.5 billion) by putting up shares of its Japanese telecom unit as collateral, raising capital for the investment giant’s operations.The money for the two-year loan, which will have a one-year extension option, will come from 16 financial institutions, SoftBank said in a statement. It pledged as much as 953 million shares of SoftBank Corp. and said the money will be used to fund operations. SoftBank Group’s stock rose as much as 3.6% in Tokyo, while the unit’s was little changed.Activist investor Paul Singer this month revealed his firm had acquired a stake of as much as $3 billion in SoftBank and has advocated for a share buyback of as much as $20 billion, along with governance changes and more transparency about its investments. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son called Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. an “important partner” and said he is in broad agreement with the investor about SoftBank buybacks and share value.SoftBank will need to raise cash to meet those demands. Son is adopting a more conciliatory stance just as he’s struggling with the $100 billion Vision Fund, which made him the biggest investor in technology. The fund lost money in the three months ended in December, one quarter after the meltdown at WeWork triggered a record loss for the Japanese company. Son is trying to raise capital for a second fund, but last week said he is no longer targeting $108 billion and SoftBank may finance the effort on its own.“We sense that the stars are now aligned for the firm to conduct a buyback,” Citigroup Global Markets analyst Mitsunobu Tsuruo wrote. SoftBank “will be in a position to flexibly implement a buyback amounting to” about 5% of its market capitalization.Read more: SoftBank’s Son Considers a ‘Bridge’ Fund Before Vision Fund 2The past 12 months have been tumultuous for Son and SoftBank. A year ago, the company unveiled a record buyback, sparking a rally that pushed shares to the highest since its dot-com peak in 2000. Uber Technologies Inc.’s disappointing public debut and the implosion of WeWork wiped out the gains over the next few months. But SoftBank surged again this month after Singer disclosed his stake and Son won approval to sell his Sprint Corp. to T-Mobile US Inc.SoftBank has 13.75 trillion yen of interest-bearing debt, with more than 2.6 trillion yen of bonds coming due in the next three years. The company also had 3.8 trillion yen of cash and equivalents as of the end of December.To contact the reporter on this story: Pavel Alpeyev in Tokyo at palpeyev@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan, Colum MurphyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Business Wire
Experienced Technology Executive Mandy Ginsberg, CEO of Match Group, Joins Uber’s Board
Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) today announced that Mandy Ginsberg, CEO of Match Group, has been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors.
- Reuters
SoftBank-backed South Korean ride-hailer Tada gets rare win amid crackdown
South Korea's ride-hailing service Tada, a smash hit since its launch just over a year ago, was cleared of transport law violations in court on Wednesday, a rare victory in a market that has been particularly unkind to ride-hailing companies. Since starting up in late 2018, Tada has won 1.7 million users as it capitalised on growing demand and the funding muscle of its Japanese backer SoftBank Group Corp . South Korea restricts ride-hailing to only licenced taxis and bans the use of private cars for the purpose.
- Reuters
Uber closing office in downtown Los Angeles
An Uber spokesman confirmed the closure in an emailed statement. The jobs from the office being closed will be shifted to a customer support office of Uber in Manila, the LA Times reported, citing sources and a recording of comments from an Uber manager. Earlier this month, Uber, which is backed by Japanese technology investment giant SoftBank Group Corp , moved forward by a year its target to achieve a measure of profitability to the fourth quarter of 2020, but added it still expects to lose a total of more than $1 billion (£769 million) this year.
- IPO-Edge.com
IPO Edge Editor Jannarone: SmileDirectClub Powers Through Unfair Attacks – TD Ameritrade TV
SmileDirectClub, Inc. has been subject to unfair attacks from the powerful American Dental Association, short sellers, and even unscrupulous journalists, but the strong underlying business has attracted investors who see through the confusion. That’s according to IPO Edge Editor-in-Chief John Jannarone, who spoke to TD Ameritrade Tuesday. Jannarone, who recently published a detailed article on […]
