Uber shares has slumped after reports that SoftBank is selling about selling 45 million shares, or a third of its stake in the leading U.S ride-hailing app company.
Uber shares dropped by as much as 5% in extended New York trading on Wednesday, according to news reports.
SoftBank’s divestment of about $2bn (£1.44bn) worth of shares in Uber is linked by some media to what it technology firm lost by betting on Chinese ride-hailing firm, Didi and other investments.
CNBC disclosed that the Japanese technology investment group lost a total of around $4bn on its stake in Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi even as the latter’s shares have slumped since their US market debut less than a month ago after a series of actions by Chinese authorities’ spooked investors.
For instance, Didi shares had dipped by almost 40% since they started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on 30 June this year.
In recent months, Chinese technology companies that traded in the U.S., Hong Kong and mainland China have witnessed drop in the market value of their shares as Beijing tightens its grip on the industry.
Specifically, just two days after that US market debut, China’s internet regulator ordered app stores to stop offering the Didi platform, saying it illegally collected users’ personal data.
Meanwhile, Reuters news agency has debunked trending news that SoftBank’s decision to cut its Uber stake was related to the slump in Didi’s value and it just felt now was a good time to take some profits.
It would be recalled that SoftBank, Didi’s largest shareholder with a stake of more than 20%, in 2018, SoftBank invested about $7.6bn in Uber and added another $333m to that investment the following year.
Before then, Uber had acquired almost 13% of Didi shares after the US-based company sold its operations in China to its local rival.
