SoftBank is selling a large chunk of its stake in ride-hailing group Uber as the world’s most aggressive technology investor wrestles with heavy losses from its other big bet on China’s Didi Chuxing, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The Japanese conglomerate behind the $100bn Vision Fund will aim to sell about 45m of its shares in Uber, said one of the people, which stood at 184m after it sold 38m of Uber shares for about $2bn in January. The other person said more shares were offloaded in June and the latest transaction would take SoftBank’s holding below 100m shares.
SoftBank’s investment in Uber dates back to 2017 when it agreed to pay about $7.7bn for 15 per cent of the US group’s shares, although the stake was later transferred to the Vision Fund.