- General
- January 12, 2021
- 5 minutes read
SoftBank Cashes Out $2B Uber Shares
An affiliate of the SoftBank Vision Fund, a holding company named SB Cayman 2, cashed out to the tune of $2 billion…
An affiliate of the SoftBank Vision Fund, a holding company named SB Cayman 2, cashed out to the tune of $2 billion its shares in the ride-hailing company Uber by selling 38 million shares on the 7th of January at an average price of $53.46.
The share sale was indicated by a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Following the sale, SB Cayman 2 continues to hold about 184.2 million Uber shares, as indicated by the filing, worth over $10 billion at current prices.
SoftBank maintains the status of being a major investor in ride-hailing companies globally, having big stakes in Uber, China’s Didi Chuxing, India’s Ola, and Southeast Asia’s Grab. Out of its ride-hailing investments, Uber is the only one to have made an exit on the public markets and thus given SoftBank the opportunity to sell shares and reap solid gains.
As of the time of its IPO in May 2019, SoftBank was the biggest shareholder in Uber with a 16.3% stake. That stake was purchased with a $7.7 billion investment in Uber in 2018.
Initially, Uber debuted to not-great sentiment from investors and saw its shares trade significantly lower than its IPO debut price of $45. Now, the company’s share price has risen to stay steadily above $50, giving SoftBank a significant reward on its stake in the company.
With $2 billion now cashed out and over $10 billion worth of Uber shares at current prices, one can say SoftBank fared well on its Uber bet. Uber isn’t the only company to have reaped good profits for SoftBank, whereas others include the Chinese real estate company KE Holdings, the robotics company Boston Dynamics, and the food delivery service DoorDash.
On the other hand, SoftBank hasn’t fared well with some of its big investments, two main examples being the office leasing company WeWork and recently the construction tech startup Katerra which tethered on the brink of bankruptcy before a bailout from SoftBank, which had already previously poured $2 billion into the company.
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