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Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi was one of the first to withdraw from the conference on future investments in Saudi Arabia in October after the murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi. Go in public.
The company's board of directors organized a "marathon meeting" last week, reported Bloomberg News, in the presence of all directors, including former managing director Travis Kalanick and Saudi leader Othman Al- Rumayyan, which manages the Kingdom's public investment fund.
Saudi Arabia, through "direct and indirect participations", now holds more than 10% of Uber, also said Bloomberg. That's double the 5% stake that Uber said the Kingdom had bought for $ 3.5 billion in 2016 and could cause it a headache in the wake of its IPO as early as 39 next year.
An Uber spokesman declined to comment, but confirmed that the board was holding its planned board meeting last week, as each quarter.
Read more: Two of Uber's most popular services join forces as the company heads for an IPO
Like Khosrowshahi and Ariana Huffington, a board member of Uber, most Wall Street neighborhoods quickly avoided the Saudi conference, known as " Davos in the desert ". BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have all chosen to avoid the event. Yet Kalanick was seen in Riyadh that week, according to Bloomberg.
SoftBank, another Uber investor, has also agreed to a $ 45 billion financing for its investments, according to Bloomberg. The Vision Fund of the Japanese company invests heavily in transportation projects, including GrabTaxi, GM Cruise and Nvidia.
Lyft, Uber's closest competitor, who is also targeting an IPO, is not immune to the Saudi shadow. The Saudi Prince, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, led a $ 247.7 million investment in the company, which now holds a market share of about 35% in the United States, which corresponds to a 5.3%, Reuters reported.
"Uber creates many jobs in Saudi Arabia and makes life easier for drivers, customers and shareholders," Saudi President Al-Rumayyan told the conference. "We did not have these interests before and we want to improve these areas."
Read the full Bloomberg article on how the Uber Investment in Saudi Arabia came together here.
