The Board of Uber Technologies Inc., has announced that they will go ahead with the Softbank investment deal and thereby, curb the power of the former Chief Executive Officer, Travis Kalanick. The board, in an attempt to move past the months of strife, unanimously passed a series of measures to shore up corporate governance by bringing in major investor SoftBank.
The changes were adopted by all the 11 members of the board in an attempt to recover from a myriad of legal problems by stripping Kalanick and other early investors of their extra voting power. According to sources, Kalanick has agreed to the provisions which will partially weaken his power in the company and to pursue an initial public offering of Uber’s stock by the end of 2019. In a statement, the Uber board said the changes in the governance would strengthen its independence and ensure equality among all shareholders.
The changes in the company includes expanding the number of board seats to 17 from the existing 11. The 17 board members will comprise of three independent directors voted on by the board, including a chairperson and up to three seats for SoftBank, depending on the size of the investment. Sources also added the two directors appointed by Kalanick in a surprise move, Ursula Burns and John Thain, will also remain on the board. Meanwhile, shareholders will have the power of one vote per share which will effectively put an end to the voting power held by the early investors, including Benchmark.
This investment by SoftBank and others preserves Uber’s previous valuation of $ 69 billion, which is considered to be the highest among the world’s venture backed startups. “SoftBank’s interest is an incredible vote of confidence in Uber’s business and long-term potential,” Uber board added in the statement. SoftBank will be investing close to $ 1.25 billion in the company and will also be spending $ 10 billion to buy shares from existing investors. This round of investment is a collaboration between Dragoneer Investment Group and Tencent Holdings.
In another separate statement, Kalanick added the decision taken by the board is a major step forward in Uber’s journey to becoming a world class public company. “We approved moving forward with the Softbank transaction and reached (an) unanimous agreement on a new governance framework that will serve Uber well. Under Dara’s leadership and with strong guidance from the Board, we should expect great things ahead for Uber,” he added.
