5 ms·

Alphabet has a large stake in Uber. They don’t need to own it outright to realize huge returns.

SilverBirch 3y ago
Sure, but there's massive advantages to bringing it in house. The only reason I could see for them not doing it is that as autonomous vehicles are deployed widely there's going to be a massive backlash from current uber drivers and strategically it might be good for Alphabet to be able to use Uber as a heat shield.
- mytailorisrich 3y ago
  Uber have always wanting to go autonomous cars. They poured a lot of money to try to develop them in-house and I think that they were too optimistic on how easy and quick that would be. But if/when fully autonomous vehicles become a reality they will shed their drivers, same as everyone else.
lotsofpulp 3y ago
How much of Uber does Alphabet own? They do not show up in the top 10 list here, so presumably 1% at most? https://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=UBER https://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=UBER https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/uber/holders/ https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/uber/holders/ Seems like pocket change compared to Alphabet’s other investments.
- avrionov 3y ago
  According to this they own part of it: https://www.gv.com/portfolio https://www.gv.com/portfolio
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    That is not surprising, or in question. The claim I am questioning is: > Alphabet has a large stake in Uber. Since Uber is a publicly listed company, its top owners are public information. Which show Alphabet to not have a significant portion of ownership in Uber.
  - htrp 3y ago
    I think google offloaded most of that stake when Uber went public
- jefftk 3y ago
  They owned 5% from 2013 to at least 2019: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/11/alphabet-uber-investment-stake-has-gone-up-20x-since-2013.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/11/alphabet-uber-investment-sta... I think they sold it in 2019 when their lockup expired, but I can only find "they're thinking of doing it" news (https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/03/ceo-david-krane-suggests-gv-could-sell-the-rest-of-its-uber-stake-at-the-end-of-its-lockup-period-next-month/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/03/ceo-david-krane-suggests-g...) and not an announcement.
- riskable 3y ago
  I just want to chime in to say that it is ridiculous that such information is not so easy to come by. Billion-dollar corporations should not be allowed to keep their external investments so opaque! Especially businesses that are publicly-traded. Also: I don't give a damn if the business isn't publicly traded either. If they're that big they have enough influence over any given market that the public should have the right to know what they're up to.

Sure, but there's massive advantages to bringing it in house. The only reason I could see for them not doing it is that as autonomous vehicles are deployed widely there's going to be a massive backlash from current uber drivers and strategically it might be good for Alphabet to be able to use Uber as a heat shield.

mytailorisrich 3y ago
Uber have always wanting to go autonomous cars. They poured a lot of money to try to develop them in-house and I think that they were too optimistic on how easy and quick that would be. But if/when fully autonomous vehicles become a reality they will shed their drivers, same as everyone else.

lotsofpulp 3y ago

How much of Uber does Alphabet own? They do not show up in the top 10 list here, so presumably 1% at most? https://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=UBER https://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=UBER https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/uber/holders/ https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/uber/holders/ Seems like pocket change compared to Alphabet’s other investments.

avrionov 3y ago
According to this they own part of it: https://www.gv.com/portfolio https://www.gv.com/portfolio
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  That is not surprising, or in question. The claim I am questioning is: > Alphabet has a large stake in Uber. Since Uber is a publicly listed company, its top owners are public information. Which show Alphabet to not have a significant portion of ownership in Uber.
- htrp 3y ago
  I think google offloaded most of that stake when Uber went public
jefftk 3y ago
They owned 5% from 2013 to at least 2019: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/11/alphabet-uber-investment-stake-has-gone-up-20x-since-2013.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/11/alphabet-uber-investment-sta... I think they sold it in 2019 when their lockup expired, but I can only find "they're thinking of doing it" news (https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/03/ceo-david-krane-suggests-gv-could-sell-the-rest-of-its-uber-stake-at-the-end-of-its-lockup-period-next-month/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/03/ceo-david-krane-suggests-g...) and not an announcement.
riskable 3y ago
I just want to chime in to say that it is ridiculous that such information is not so easy to come by. Billion-dollar corporations should not be allowed to keep their external investments so opaque! Especially businesses that are publicly-traded. Also: I don't give a damn if the business isn't publicly traded either. If they're that big they have enough influence over any given market that the public should have the right to know what they're up to.