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Uber shareholder group wants Benchmark off board
- frandroid 9y agoWow, these other investors are willing to give Benchmark a fabulous exit. I would negotiate it up to $12B and take it!
- mitchellst 9y agoIs the DO NOT PUBLISH across the top of this article some kind of a gimmick from axios, or did someone mess up pretty hard?
- jpace121 9y agoThis whole situation has to be impeding Uber's CEO search. Finding someone willing to step into this kind of circus, particularly when the circus is over there heads, is going to be very hard.
- vkou 9y agoThere is reason to believe that the CEO search will narrow down to re-instating Travis.
- abritinthebay 9y agoI'll take "Things that make Uber look even more dysfunctional" for $800 please Alex.
- tyingq 9y agoI wonder what it's like to work in Uber's PR department these days. Hopefully someone is setting aside a year end bonus for them since they don't likely qualify for overtime pay.
- tlogan 9y agoThis seems like fight between two fractions in the Uber. On the one side, it is Benchmark capital while the other side there is Travis and investors aligned with him. What is uber ownership breakdown? What do you think who will win?
- nostrademons 9y ago> Who will win? Lyft.
- gsnedders 9y agoHow much of Uber's income comes from the US market v. overseas? As long as Lyft is US-only, they're potentially going to have a hard time equalling Uber.
- nostrademons 9y agoLyft is going global: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/13/lyft-to-go-global-take-on-uber-outside-the-us.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/13/lyft-to-go-global-take-on-ub...
- furioussloth 9y agoThis story was published 8 months ago and yet there is not a single other country where Lyft has expanded. Also Uber already faces heavy competition oversees. I suspect most of the money they are losing is because of their desire for world domination. It is going to be very hard for Lyft to enter or retain those markets.
- malandrew 9y ago> But Lyft told CNBC, "Along with our international partners, we are updating how we serve our users traveling abroad. We will now direct them to download the partner's app in the country they are visiting." So basically they aren't going global.
- MBCook 9y agoDo we know anything about the group? Is it a group of 2 or of 200? Do they control 1% or 25% of shares?
- SyneRyder 9y agoThe full letter is included in the article, and the signatures are from three people (representing at least two VC firms). They claim others will be adding their names to the letter in coming days. From the article: Who signed the request? Shervin Pishevar (Sherpa Capital, although signed as an individual), Ron Burkle (Yucaipa Cos) and Adam Leber (Maverick). [Edit] According to Crunchbase [1], Sherpa Capital was involved in Series D and Series E funding for Uber, while Adam Leber was an Angel investor. I couldn't find info on Ron Burkle or Yucaipa Cos. [1] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/uber/investors https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/uber/investors
- kwindla 9y agoRon Burkle is a billionaire based in LA who made most of his initial money from grocery stores (A&P). Yucaipa is his personal investing vehicle and has a fairly high profile in the relatively rarified world of private-equity-funds-that-invest-one-very-wealthy-person's-money. That world is sort of the dark matter flip side of Venture Capital. A firm like Yucaipa doesn't need to blog or tweet -- doesn't need to market itself -- because it never needs to raise money from limited partners, and it's super flexible and agnostic about the kinds of investments it's looking for, time horizons, and how exactly it structures deals.
- SyneRyder 9y agoThanks for that, fascinating! I searched a bit further and found out he is also co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL team. He seems like an intriguing person.
- giarc 9y agoI've only discovered Axios in the past few days but I really like their writing style. It's quick and to the point. Reading their About Us section, it seems like this was the goal "Stories are too long. Or too boring."
- RobSim 9y agoOff topic: I love Axios - they have some top tier journalists, and I was introduced when Dan Primack (from fortunes termsheet originally) moved over. They do great newsletters on politics, m&a/VC, tech, and the future of work.
- sureshv 9y ago+1 on the Pro Rata newsletter.
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- kkhire 9y agoI remember once watching an interview with Travis talking about pitching Uber to Benchmark, and he talked about how they wouldn't let him leave the office until they agreed on terms. eerily similar battle going on now
- flunhat 9y agoI think I found the video: https://youtu.be/550X5OZVk7Y?t=58m30s https://youtu.be/550X5OZVk7Y?t=58m30s
- jaypaulynice 9y agoWhat a saga...Benchmark to Kalanick: resign....Shareholders to Benchmark: you resign....lol
- throwawy11111 9y agoBenchmark board seat is the rumored anon source of several of the negative stories about the company the last few months. As Gurleys patience with Travis soured, their strategy shifted to stoking the PR crisis deeper so they can purge management and gain control. Other shareholders and employees should rightly be outraged.
- elmar 9y agoWith Mr. Kalanick, Mr. Gurley is said to have a tight relationship. He is Uber’s most engaged board member and the closest thing Mr. Kalanick has to a consigliere https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/technology/bill-gurley-uber-travis-kalanick-silicon-valley.html https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/technology/bill-gurley...
- tristanj 9y agoBill Gurley resigned from the board and another Benchmark partner took his place (Matt Cohler).
- elmar 9y agoUber board member Bill Gurley resigns after leading effort to remove CEO Travis Kalanick http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-uber-bill-gurley-20170621-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-uber-bil...
- cocktailpeanuts 9y agoParent is talking about how the media was manipulated by Benchmark for their profit. You are using a media link as an evidence.
- aetherson 9y agoUmberto Eco talks in Foucault's Pendulum about how when you believe a conspiracy theory, evidence against the conspiracy theory becomes evidence for the conspiracy theory because you believe it's part of the cover-up. In this case, I think the easier dismissal would be to simply say, "I think that Kalanick's relationship with Benchmark soured over time."
- elmar 9y agoSome startup founders are ‘nervous’ about dealing with Benchmark after it sued Uber https://www.recode.net/platform/amp/2017/8/11/16130148/benchmark-uber-startup-founder-backlash-lawsuit https://www.recode.net/platform/amp/2017/8/11/16130148/bench...
- calafrax 9y agonervous about working with competent investors who aren't complete marks? somehow I doubt benchmark will have difficulty finding people to take their money.
- hkmurakami 9y agoIt may matter, since VC returns are dominated by the outlier companies that return 100x. If the next Slack (i.e. companies where VCs form a line to have them take their money) always pass on Benchmark after remembering this, instead choosing to take money from Sequoia/A16Z/NEA etc., who are also competent investors who aren't complete marks, then returns may take a hit.
- calafrax 9y agothat assumes that the majority of founders would view what benchmark is doing as negative. to me it looks like good business.
- aetherson 9y agoI mean, maybe. But Benchmark is heavily bought into Uber. They've got a lot to lose/gain here. And they have a reputation to defend not just with future founders, but also future LPs. You can bet that there are a lot of potential LPs looking at VC behavior here, and that ones who are deferential to Kalanick will have a harder time raising future funds if this whole thing goes tits up. Benchmark clearly believes that Kalanick is toxic to Uber's success. Given the amount of money they have in the game, and given the belief that Kalanick will sink Uber, it's pretty hard for me to come up with odds that future founders will be Benchmark-averse that overcome the amount of money they have in play with Uber plus whatever heat they'll take from their LPs.
- evv 9y agoSo Benchmark is suing Uber and Kalanick because they are worried about getting their money out- 13% of Uber is almost $9B. Now Uber claims to have other investors ready, willing to buy back over $6B of that stock. If that were the case, then wouldn't Benchmark have already divested? Who is willing to invest $6B into Uber when it has no CEO and such an astronomical valuation?
- will_brown 9y ago>Who is willing to invest $6B into Uber when it has no CEO and such an astronomical valuation? It depends, would that equity be offered through an ICO? If so, shut up and take my money. How awesome would it be to go from the taxi medallion system to an Uber token system.
- HNNoLikey 9y agoI happen to agree with that but I don't think it could happen at this advanced stage. Would the SEC even allow it?
- will_brown 9y agoWell as much of a joke as it sounds...this is truely what I believe will happen. 1. Tech community initially embraced Uber, drank the cool aid and echoed: better service, disruption of existing industry highlighting the NY medallion system as the worst example of a taxi monopoly stifling innovation. 2. Uber lost its appeal with stories of their disgusting corporate culture and cut throat/intimidation practices at best and outright illegal practices at worst, just as block chain and smart contracts are hailed as a decentralized solution to the "sharing economy" for things just like Uber. The tech community fell in love all over again, despite the obvious problems and unrealistic expectations of smart contracts. 3. When a blockchain Uber competitor/replacement does come around, it is going to be token based and idiotically the tech community will fall in love all over again, no recognizing the irony of replacing a taxi medallion with a expensive token.
- petergatsby 9y ago
- s73ver 9y agoWhen it rains, it pours, I guess.
- calafrax 9y ago"Benchmark's investment of $27M is worth $8.4 billion today" "We have investors ready to acquire these shares" So they have 8.4 billion in new funding lined up? Somehow I doubt it.
- HNNoLikey 9y agoThis wouldn't be so much new funding as it would be swapping equity holders. It would be a great investment if Uber keeps growing and one day exits. And Uber will grow - I don't think they've even scratched the surface since logistics is still wide open, among other things. It could very easily be another Amazon-esque juggernaut 10-15X current value.
- calafrax 9y agothe statue of liberty would be a great investment if the government was planning to tear it down and sell it for scrap and you could buy it cheap before the word got out.
- soyiuz 9y agoThe story is as old as the world. Part investors are pushing the concern to the chagrin of other part investors. The letter seems pretty reasonable: the under-signers are pursuing what they see as their self-interest in offering their "fraternal" siblings a generous exit. Nothing to see here. If anything this is good news for Uber, some of its major investors still believe in the the company.
- seem_2211 9y agoI'd be so happy with this outcome if I was Benchmark. Even exiting with a 50% haircut (so what $4.5b) will return their funds a couple times over.
- omarforgotpwd 9y agoThat's skeptical part of my brain sees "shareholders" and thinks "friends of Travis and / or Travis"... I mean if it comes to a vote his side still gets to vote right?