As Japanese investment giant SoftBank makes an over $10 billion investment in Uber, the CEO of a subsidiary company is expected to join Uber’s Board of Directors.
Marcelo Claure, CEO of Sprint, who was once on the short list to become the new CEO of Uber, will take one of two director slots that SoftBank is getting, as part of its investment deal. The other seat will go to Rajeev Misra, who is the head of SoftBank’s Vision Fund that led the multi-billion dollar deal to buy a big stake in the ride-hailing company.
The duo will join the 11 current Uber directors that include Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and ousted CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick, as well as large investors and several independent ones.
Uber is still looking for both an independent chairman and three independent directors.
As the head of Sprint, Claure is arguably SoftBank’s most prominent American executive. This deal does, however, raise the possibility of further collaboration between Uber and Sprint. In the past, Sprint preloaded Uber’s app, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to see more tie-ups or policy decisions between the two companies.
Uber has faced an uphill battle to this point. The investment will definitely have a positive impact on the company. One big twist in the story here is that Uber’s arch nemesis, Lyft, recently got a billion dollar investment from CapitalG, and they are not tied up in such twisted storms.
Whether Uber’s new head, Dara Khosrowshahi, and the board serve the company well by making good decisions and/or when Uber will decide to go public will be two primary interests of analysts around the world.
