This past Tuesday, Uber’s board of directors agreed on a deal, finally settling a several-months-long fight between internal powers.
A possible IPO or initial public stock offering is now a reality for 2019 with the announcement of a new CEO for the private ride-share company. Uber’s old CEO Travis Kalanick resigned, and during Tuesday’s meeting, it was announced that Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive officer of Expedia had taken his place.
Expert John Colley, of Warwick Business School and Professor of Practice in the Strategy & International Business group, commented on the matter. Colley mentions that Uber has come to this brief agreement during their board meeting earlier this week in limiting co-founder Kalanick’s influence on the company in return for SoftBank, a Japanese multinational internet corporation’s support. Uber has invested as reports suggest, a staggering $1.3 billion dollars with the Japanese company.
Back in September, SoftBank said they were considering an investment in Uber, which now seems to be something that the company finalized. This isn’t the first time SoftBank invested in ride-sharing ventures, the company previously backed China’s Didi Chuxing taxi-hailing app Grab.
John Colley went on to further state:
“The board and investors all want an early IPO before more major misfortunes can befall the business. The main concern will be that profit forecasts will start to be overtaken by results. In view of likely increasing regulation and tougher approaches by regulators such as TfL in London, the forecasts may be hard to achieve.”
For those unaware, Uber recently lost their rights to operate in the UK, as Transport for London or TfL decided against it, due to disagreeing with Uber’s approach and lack of corporate responsibility in how they operate.
Colley went on to state that he believes having an IPO on the table will be Uber’s best bet in continued success after incidents such as the UK loss and emerging competition.
Liked this article and want to read more like it? Check out Brendan Frye’s report on Uber in the UK and the future of Ubisoft
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