Warren Buffett, arguably the best investor of all time, earlier this year offered to invest US$3bn in Uber Technologies Inc., but the two sides couldn’t agree on the terms, according to media reports.
The talks between Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK-A, NYSE:BRK-B) and Uber, reported earlier by Bloomberg News, came on the heels of a multibillion investment in the ride-hailing firm by SoftBank Group Inc. (TYO:9984)
The “Oracle of Omaha” has a history of investing in troubled companies in exchange for great terms. During the 2008 financial Armageddon, Berkshire threw lifelines to companies like Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) and General Electric Co (NYSE:GE) and reaped billions on those opportune investments.
“Buffett proposed similar terms to Uber in the wake of a crisis of the ride-hailing company’s own making. Buffett would have effectively lent Uber his sterling reputation, along with some capital, in exchange for cushy deal terms,” reported Bloomberg.
Buffett’s initial offer was well above US$3bn, but during negotiations, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi proposed decreasing the size of the deal to US$2bn.
The billionaire investor confirmed the talks to CNBC. “I’m a great admirer of Dara. Some of the reported details are not correct but it’s true that Berkshire had discussions with Uber,” Buffett told the news channel.
Buffett has recently struggled to find sizable attractive buys. His company has piled up more than US$100bn in cash, according to the Wall Street Journal.