Some startup founders are ‘nervous’ about dealing with Benchmark after it sued Uber<p><a href="https://www.recode.net/platform/amp/2017/8/11/16130148/benchmark-uber-startup-founder-backlash-lawsuit" rel="nofollow">https://www.recode.net/platform/amp/2017/8/11/16130148/bench...</a>
Benchmark board seat is the rumored anon source of several of the negative stories about the company the last few months. As Gurleys patience with Travis soured, their strategy shifted to stoking the PR crisis deeper so they can purge management and gain control. Other shareholders and employees should rightly be outraged.
So Benchmark is suing Uber and Kalanick because they are worried about getting their money out- 13% of Uber is almost $9B.<p>Now Uber claims to have other investors ready, willing to buy back over $6B of that stock. If that were the case, then wouldn't Benchmark have already divested?<p>Who is willing to invest $6B into Uber when it has no CEO and such an astronomical valuation?
I've only discovered Axios in the past few days but I really like their writing style. It's quick and to the point. Reading their About Us section, it seems like this was the goal "Stories are too long. Or too boring."
I remember once watching an interview with Travis talking about pitching Uber to Benchmark, and he talked about how they wouldn't let him leave the office until they agreed on terms.<p>eerily similar battle going on now
This seems like fight between two fractions in the Uber. On the one side, it is Benchmark capital while the other side there is Travis and investors aligned with him.<p>What is uber ownership breakdown? What do you think who will win?
This whole situation has to be impeding Uber's CEO search. Finding someone willing to step into this kind of circus, particularly when the circus is over there heads, is going to be very hard.
The story is as old as the world. Part investors are pushing the concern to the chagrin of other part investors. The letter seems pretty reasonable: the under-signers are pursuing what they see as their self-interest in offering their "fraternal" siblings a generous exit. Nothing to see here. If anything this is good news for Uber, some of its major investors still believe in the the company.
That's skeptical part of my brain sees "shareholders" and thinks "friends of Travis and / or Travis"... I mean if it comes to a vote his side still gets to vote right?
I'd be so happy with this outcome if I was Benchmark. Even exiting with a 50% haircut (so what $4.5b) will return their funds a couple times over.
"Benchmark's investment of $27M is worth $8.4 billion today"<p>"We have investors ready to acquire these shares"<p>So they have 8.4 billion in new funding lined up? Somehow I doubt it.