• News
  • Markets
    • Bonds
    • Commodities
    • Economy
    • ETFs & Mutual Funds
    • Forex
    • Futures
    • Global Economies
    • Options
    • Previews
    • Small-Cap
    • Stock Analysis
    • Reviews
  • Personal Finance
    • Budgeting
    • Credit Cards
    • Debt
    • Insurance
    • Loans
    • Mortgages
    • Retirement
    • Savings
  • FinTech
  • Business
    • Autos
    • Energy
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Food & agriculture
    • Pharma & healthcare
    • Real estate
    • Retail
    • Sports Money
  • Reviews
  • Tax
  • Crypto Currency
  • About us
MoneyJournals
MoneyJournals
  • News
  • Markets
    • Bonds
    • Commodities
    • Economy
    • ETFs & Mutual Funds
    • Forex
    • Futures
    • Global Economies
    • Options
    • Previews
    • Small-Cap
    • Stock Analysis
    • Reviews
  • Personal Finance
    • Budgeting
    • Credit Cards
    • Debt
    • Insurance
    • Loans
    • Mortgages
    • Retirement
    • Savings
  • FinTech
  • Business
    • Autos
    • Energy
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Food & agriculture
    • Pharma & healthcare
    • Real estate
    • Retail
    • Sports Money
  • Reviews
  • Tax
  • Crypto Currency
  • About us
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • RSS
Uber to Pay Google’s Waymo Equity to Settle Lawsuit
Home
Business
Autos

Uber to Pay Google’s Waymo Equity to Settle Lawsuit

February 9th, 2018 Luis Aureliano Autos, Markets, Stock Analysis 0 comments

Bloomberg reported this Friday that Uber and Google’s Waymo have finally resolved their differences. Uber Technologies has agreed to pay Waymo $245 million in closely held equities, which will give Google’s Waymo autonomous car unit a 0.34% stake in the ride hailing company.

Embed from Getty Images

How much these stocks will be actually worth will depend on how the company fares when it goes public. Uber is looking at launching its IPO in late 2019. However, considering the fact that the ride-hailing startup just closed a deal with SoftBank Group Corporation worth $9.3 billion in which the company’s shares were valuated at $54 billion, it gives a ball park figure for how much Waymo’s shares would be worth. Based on the SoftBank deal, Waymo’s shares will be worth about $184 million.

Google was one of the first investors in Uber, way back when it started, so this settlement will increase the search giant’s stake in the company.

The last one year has been tumultuous for Uber, with the scandal after scandal finally leading to the expulsion of co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick. The Uber – Waymo lawsuit is one of those scandals the company got embroiled in due to Kalanick’s contentious behavior.

Alphabet and Uber

Google and Uber were friendly rivals in the driverless-car industry, which is expected to grow to billions of dollars a year. The problem started when Kalanick, against the advice and pleas of his own team, went ahead with a deal with one of Waymo’s ex-senior engineers – Anthony Levandowski – to acquire autonomous driving technology.

Waymo’s allegation was that this technology had been stolen by Levandowski. The theft consisted of more than 14,000 proprietary files – including the critical lidar tech (which helps these autonomous cars “see” their surroundings) – that Waymo said Levandowski stole when he left the company to launch his own startup – Otto.

Kalanick acquired Otto and Levandowski was offered the role of head of Uber’s self-driving project by Kalanick, but was demoted and then finally fired as the contention between Uber and Google got more and more acrimonious.

As part of the trial proceedings, Kalanick spent more than 3 hours on the witness stand giving his testimony. However, it just became clearer that it would be very difficult for Google to prove its allegations.

According to Fortune, this settlement was negotiated by Kalanick’s successor Dara Khosrowshahi, and, while not exactly a win, is definitely the next best option. This lawsuit had already brought a lot of Uber’s skeletons out of its closet and, had the ride hailing company lost the case, it would have meant heavy restrictions on how it would be allowed to conduct its research into new technologies, not to mention the huge compensation that Waymo was demanding. Waymo was looking for $1.86 billion in damages in this lawsuit as well as a court order that would prohibit Uber from using the disputed technology.

Thanks to the negotiation, Uber now only pays $245 million worth of equities to Google. The settlement also means that Uber no longer as to admit to guilt on any matter.

Since Khosrowshahi took over as CEO of Uber, he has been busy rebuilding the company that Kalanick founded but also almost destroyed. By reaching this settlement with Google, he has actually opened avenues to future collaborations between the two companies. And having Google’s support will only increase Uber’s value when it launches its IPO late next year.

Google released a statement that it was happy with the deal and would partner with Uber so that it could develop its own autonomous technology.

Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest
Next article An Analysis of the Current Stock Market Volatility
Previous article Oil Prices Impacted by Equities Selloff

Luis Aureliano

Luis Aureliano is a business writer and financial analyst. With over 15 years of experience in global finance and an MBA in economics and management, Luis’s areas of expertise include business, marketing, communications, personal finance, macro economics, stocks and emerging markets.

Related Posts

Walmart Stocks Soar after Blockbuster Earnings Report Business
February 20th, 2019

Walmart Stocks Soar after Blockbuster Earnings Report

Tata Motors’ Jaguar Land Rover in Financial Straits Autos
February 18th, 2019

Tata Motors’ Jaguar Land Rover in Financial Straits

Google Maps Releasing Walking-Based AR Feature Markets
February 11th, 2019

Google Maps Releasing Walking-Based AR Feature

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Market Quotes by TradingView
Weekly Timeline
Feb 20th 2:05 AM
Business

Walmart Stocks Soar after Blockbuster Earnings Report

Feb 18th 2:12 AM
Business

Tata Motors’ Jaguar Land Rover in Financial Straits

Feb 11th 1:41 PM
Markets

Google Maps Releasing Walking-Based AR Feature

Feb 11th 1:35 PM
Markets

World Stocks Open the Week on the Backfoot but Gain Later

Feb 10th 1:40 AM
Business

Tesla Increases Model 3 Deliveries In Europe

Feb 10th 12:56 AM
Business

Europe Starting To Break Up Facebook’s Business

Feb 9th 2:28 AM
Business

Skechers Shares Shoot Up after Strong Earnings and Guidance

Weekly Quote

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

Thomas Jefferson
  • News
  • Markets
  • Personal Finance
  • FinTech
  • Business
  • Reviews
  • Tax
  • Crypto Currency
  • About us
  • Back to top
Money Journals

About Money Journals News

MoneyJournals.com advises to carefully examine any claim or suggestion made by financial advisers, Journalists or bloggers, before investing or trading under any Brokerage. materials presented in Money Journals.com should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security in any jurisdiction. Money Journals supplies general market commentary and does not constitute investment or trading advice.

Additional information

  • About us
  • Our staff
  • Contact us
  • Write for us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Service
© MoneyJournals 2017. All rights reserved.