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- Uber’s stock fell 4% on Thursday after CNBC reported SoftBank is offloading a large stake in the firm.
- The latest share sale could take SoftBank’s holdings in Uber to less than 100 million shares.
- Reports say the decision is unrelated to SoftBank’s $4 billion loss from its stake in Didi.
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Uber’s stock fell 4% on Thursday after CNBC reported SoftBank will sell about a third of its stake in the ride-hailing firm.
SoftBank, one of Uber’s largest shareholders, plans to sell about 45 million of its 184 million shares, the report said. Any buyer is said to have a 30-day lockup period.
In January, the Japanese conglomerate sold 38 million Uber shares worth $2 billion.
Further shares were said to be offloaded in June, and SoftBank’s stake could stand at below 100 million shares with the latest transaction, according to a Financial Times report, which cited a person familiar with the matter.
China’s recent crackdown on rival ride-hailing app Didi has reportedly cost SoftBank, its largest shareholder, about $4 billion. It has also suffered losses related to the proposed initial public offering of Alibaba’s Ant Group, which was halted by regulators after Jack Ma publicly snubbed local banking rules.
But reports from Reuters and the FT say SoftBank’s decision to cut its Uber holding is unrelated to its stake in Didi, which went public on the US stock market in blockbuster IPO in late June. The tech conglomerate believed it was the right time to cash out and profit from its holding, a source told Reuters.
SoftBank has been an Uber investor since 2018, when it picked up a 16% stake in the firm through an entity called SB Cayman 2 Ltd. In a filing as recent as March 31, Uber refers to SoftBank as a “large shareholder.”
Softbank’s $100 billion Vision Fund has been hit hard by China’s regulatory crackdown on the tech sector, with the value of its holdings sliding $11 billion since July, compared to a $1.1 billion gain in the April-to-June quarter, according to data seen by the FT.
SoftBank didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Uber’s stock, down 9% so far this year, had risen slightly a week ago after announcing its $2.25 billion acquisition of logistics tech company Transplace from TPG Capital.
Didi Global’s shares are fallen 37% since its first day of trading.