Uber Co-Founder Sells Another $383M In Shares, Reducing Stake To Less Than 10%

Ride-sharing company Uber Technologies Inc. UBER co-founder Travis Kalanick sold about 12.7 million shares he owned in the company last week, according to a public filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

What Happened

The shares worth around $383 million were sold in installments between Monday to Wednesday, priced between $29.8 and $30.1, the filing says.

Kalanick has been selling off his shares constantly since November after an initial restriction on private investors and Uber employees selling shares expired six months following the May initial public offering.

The former chief executive officer is left with 8.2 million Uber shares after the latest selloff, worth about $250.3 million at a current market price. Kalanick had 98 million shares in Uber before November.

Why It Matters

Uber has lost more than 32% of its value at press time, compared to its IPO price of $45 per share.

The San Francisco-based company reported a net loss of $1.16 billion in the third quarter, with a $0.68 loss per share, contributing a major loss for its investor SoftBank Group Corporation SFTBY alongside troubled co-working space startup WeWork.

Kalanick stepped down as Uber’s CEO in June 2017, as he faced pressure from the investors over allegations of overlooking cases of gender discrimination and sexual harassment at the company.

In 2018, Kalanick shifted his focus to kitchen rental startup Cloud Kitchen, which received a $400 million investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported in November.

Price Action

Uber’s shares closed 1.64% higher at $30.45 on Friday.

Photo Credit: TechCrunch via Wikimedia