The SoftBank investment would be a sign of support from an influential investor as the ride-services company struggles with several scandals ranging from sexual harassment allegations to federal criminal probes. Photo: BloombergSan Francisco: A consortium led by SoftBank Group Corp on Tuesday launched its tender offer for shares of Uber Technologies Inc and the Japanese company said that some notable early Uber investors planned to sell stock. Venture capital firms Benchmark, which owns 13% of Uber worth nearly $9 billion, and Menlo Ventures, another large shareholder, have indicated that they would sell a portion of the shares, according to a SoftBank spokesperson. SoftBank would add the investment in Uber to several other bets in the sector, including Singapore’s Grab and India’s Ola. As a private company, Uber is not required to report its earnings, but has done so for about the past year in preparation for an initial public offering planned for 2019.

Source: Mint November 29, 2017 13:41 UTC