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posted by CoolHand on Sunday August 02 2015, @11:49AM   Printer-friendly
from the modern-robin-hood dept.

A new round of funding has increased Uber's valuation to around $51 billion. The New York Times cites anonymous sources in reporting that Microsoft contributed about $1 billion, "a substantial amount of the financing." As you may remember, Uber recently acquired mapping assets and talent from Microsoft's Bing search engine division. Microsoft's participation in the latest funding round may indicate a "strategic alliance" between the company and Uber.

Uber needs all the billions it can get its hands on. It has followed June's announcement of $1 billion of investment to expand in China with a new $1 billion bet - this time to expand Uber India. Uber was recently banned in Delhi after a driver allegedly raped a female passenger. The company resumed operations in January anyway, and an Indian court lifted the ban on July 8.

Uber will face tough competition in India; existing firm Ola reportedly operates twice as many daily rides as Uber in over 100 cities, and is being valued at a measly $2.4 billion.


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  • (Score: 2) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Sunday August 02 2015, @07:47PM

    by PizzaRollPlinkett (4512) on Sunday August 02 2015, @07:47PM (#217084)

    It's called hedging. MS has about $90B (that's billion with a B) they are sitting on. Blowing a billion on Uber is like a blue-collar worker buying a lottery ticket. If Uber is the next big thing, MS gets a ton of money. If not, they get a tax writeoff against future profits. They can't really lose. Plus they get free publicity with the boring name "Microsoft" in the same headline as the exciting name "Uber" everyone is talking about. (Remember when what's-her-face at Yahoo bought apps just to get a little buzz and relevance?) I'm as critical of Nadella's non-strategy as anyone, but this is one time when I can't blame MS for what they're doing.

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