Warren Buffett reportedly discussed $3B Uber investment
Warren Buffett reportedly offered to invest $3 billion in Uber, but talks between the two sides reportedly collapsed.
The offer, which came earlier this year, was scrapped because the Berkshire Hathaway CEO and Uber couldn’t agree on the terms and size of the deal, according to a Bloomberg report published Wednesday.
Uber and Berkshire Hathaway hadn’t responded to a request for comment from FOX Business at the time of publication.
Bloomberg reported that Buffett’s offer was similar to a $5 billion bet the “Oracle of Omaha” made on Goldman Sachs during the financial crisis. Buffett invested in the bank in exchange for preferred stock that generated $1.6 billion in profit for Berkshire Hathaway.
Similarly, Buffett approached Uber as the ride-hailing company dealt with controversy over harassment claims and allegations of stealing trade secrets from Google’s autonomous car division, Waymo. In addition, Uber has scaled back its tests of self-driving cars in response to a fatal accident in Arizona.
Under the proposed deal, Berkshire Hathaway wanted to provide Uber with a convertible loan, which would protect Buffett’s investment but also provide upside if Uber’s value grew, according to the report. The initial offer was valued at more than $3 billion. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi countered by proposing a smaller deal of $2 billion in hopes of winning Buffett’s support while giving him a smaller share of the company, Bloomberg reported.
The talks occurred at the same time Uber was seeking a term loan that was made in March. Uber had $6.3 billion in cash at the end of the first quarter, and the company will record a $1.5 billion term loan in the second quarter.
Uber also scored a $1.25 billion investment from Japanese firm SoftBank, which also acquired $8 billion in Uber stock from existing shareholders.