Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick officially becomes a billionaire
Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick has acquired $1.4 billion in cash, increasing his total estimated net worth to about $4.24 billion. This happened after Japanese tech giant SoftBank closed a huge investment deal with Uber, becoming the largest stakeholder in the ride-hailing company. Kalanick reportedly plans to set up a charitable foundation with the money he has received.
SoftBank buys 15% stake in Uber for $1.25 billion
Under the deal, SoftBank has paid $1.25 billion to Uber and bought about 15% of the company. This included Kalanick, who is still an existing and one of the biggest shareholders in Uber, selling about one-third of his stake for a $1.4 billion payout. He still reportedly owns roughly 6% of the company. The investment deal has devalued Uber by about $20 billion.
SoftBank to gain board seats, scrap super voting rights
The closure of the deal means a host of governance changes for Uber. For starters, SoftBank will gain board seats and increase Uber's board to a whopping 17 members. Another major change will be that now no board member will have super voting rights for preferred shares. Earlier, Kalanick and other early investors had super voting rights that granted 10 votes for each share.
Travis Kalanick had resigned as Uber's CEO last year
In June 2017, Kalanick was forced to resign from Uber after a series of scandals involving alleged sexual harassment, flouting law enforcement, and an intellectual property lawsuit rocked the company. It was reported then that Kalanick's resignation mostly left him with paper money by the means of stocks in Uber, financial investments in other start-ups, and the sale of his previous start-up Red Swoosh.
