Warren Buffett reportedly offered to invest $3 billion in Uber, but talks between the two sides reportedly collapsed.
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The offer, which came earlier this year, was scrapped because the Berkshire Hathaway CEO and Uber couldn’t agree on the terms and size of the deal, according to a Bloomberg report published Wednesday.
Uber and Berkshire Hathaway hadn’t responded to a request for comment from FOX Business at the time of publication.
Bloomberg reported that Buffett’s offer was similar to a $5 billion bet the “Oracle of Omaha” made on Goldman Sachs during the financial crisis. Buffett invested in the bank in exchange for preferred stock that generated $1.6 billion in profit for Berkshire Hathaway.
Similarly, Buffett approached Uber as the ride-hailing company dealt with controversy over harassment claims and allegations of stealing trade secrets from Google’s autonomous car division, Waymo. In addition, Uber has scaled back its tests of self-driving cars in response to a fatal accident in Arizona.
Under the proposed deal, Berkshire Hathaway wanted to provide Uber with a convertible loan, which would protect Buffett’s investment but also provide upside if Uber’s value grew, according to the report. The initial offer was valued at more than $3 billion. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi countered by proposing a smaller deal of $2 billion in hopes of winning Buffett’s support while giving him a smaller share of the company, Bloomberg reported.
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The talks occurred at the same time Uber was seeking a term loan that was made in March. Uber had $6.3 billion in cash at the end of the first quarter, and the company will record a $1.5 billion term loan in the second quarter.
Uber also scored a $1.25 billion investment from Japanese firm SoftBank, which also acquired $8 billion in Uber stock from existing shareholders.
