Read the letter ... words
Below is full text of the email, which was obtained by Axios:
As a group of shareholders of Uber Technologies, Inc. (the "Company") we were surprised and distressed to learn through the media of the lawsuit brought by your firm against the Company, and its founder and former Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick.
Naturally, we share your concerns about the problems that the Company has
confronted in recent months, but we are greatly concerned about the tactics employed by
Benchmark to address them, which strike us as ethically dubious and, critically, value-destructive
rather than value enhancing.
Benchmark's investment of $27M is worth $8.4 billion today and you are suing
the founder, the company and the employees who worked so hard to create such unprecedented
value. We ask you to please consider the lives of these employees and allow them to continue to
grow this company in peace and make it thrive. These actions do the opposite.
Accordingly, we would request that Benchmark help the Company realize its
full potential by allowing the necessary work to be done in the Board Room rather than the
Courtroom. To this end, at this point, in light of your suit against the Company, we believe it
would be best, and hereby request, that Benchmark remove its representative from the
Company's Board and move promptly to divest itself of enough shares in the Company so as to
cease to have Board appointment rights. We have investors ready to acquire these shares as soon
as we receive communication from Benchmark that they are willing to withdraw their lawsuit
and sell a minimum of 75% of their holdings.
We are also asking for a symbolic Board of Directors vote on this matter at
today's Board meeting to show how the Board of Directors stands on this lawsuit brought against
the company, its founder and the 15,000 employees of Uber who have all worked so hard in
concert to create the fastest growing company in history.
Many other shareholders share our views and will be adding their names in the days ahead. Any shareholders who want to join this letter and petition may email one of our signatories of this letter so that we can submit a final list of shareholders who support this request. Emails can be addressed to Shervin Pishevar at UberShareholderAlliance@gmail.com.
Sincerely,
Kingdom officials say the company is worth $2 trillion, and while it will probably be worth less — perhaps substantially less — the IPO will generate huge fees for the principal listing exchange.
Having the IPO in New York may be seen as a win for the Trump administration.
Behind the scenes: Reuters reports that New York is favored even though some of the kingdom's financial and legal advisers say it has some disadvantages compared to London.
"Prince Mohammad may choose to list Aramco on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for 'political considerations', given the longstanding relationship between Riyadh and Washington, the sources said. However, they added that financial and commercial factors would also play a role in the choice," they report.
A source familiar with the talks in the Saudi capital tells Axios that, in essence, the lawyers oppose New York and bankers prefer it, and the bankers have the upper hand right now.
U.S. securities laws require more transparency and disclosure than does the UK, an important consideration given Saudi's intense secrecy. Another factor is litigation risk, including potential complications from the 2016 law passed over then-President Obama's veto that seeks to allow lawsuits against Saudi Arabia involving 9/11.
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