Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER) is best known for its rideshare service. The Uber app matches consumers looking for ride services with available drivers. The company was founded in 2009 and reached one billion rides by 2015. It went public in an IPO four years later in May of 2019.
The global COVID-19 pandemic caused a drastic decline in Uber's traditional ride service and its revenue. Uber has diversified its revenue stream since that time by launching a food order and delivery business, Uber Eats, as well as a freight shipping service, Uber Freight. These other offerings match consumers with providers like the initial ride-hailing service.
Uber has also faced other headwinds. A federal court ruled in January 2021 that the company must face parts of a class action lawsuit from 48,000 drivers in California, although that litigation has been resolved.
The top Uber shareholders are Dara Khosrowshahi, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Nelson J. Chai, the Vanguard Group, BlackRock, Inc., and Morgan Stanley.
Uber had trailing 12-month (TTM) revenue of $37.28 billion and TTM net income of $1.887 billion as of Dec. 31, 2023, with a market capitalization of $161.365 billion.
Here's a more detailed look at Uber's six biggest shareholders.
Key Takeaways
- Uber Technologies has been providing rideshare services since 2009 but it suffered a setback during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The company's market cap was in excess of $161 billion at the end of 2023.
- Dara Khosrowshahi was Uber's top individual shareholder as of November 2023 with 1,016,240 shares.
- The Vanguard Group was Uber's top shareholder as of December 2023 with 167.63 million shares.
Top 3 Individual Insider Shareholders
Dara Khosrowshahi
Dara Khosrowshahi owned 1,016,240 shares of Uber as of November 2023.
Khosrowshahi was appointed CEO of Uber in 2017, replacing Uber's controversial founder and CEO, Travis Kalanick. Khosrowshahi manages the company's 22,000 employees. He was CEO of Expedia prior to Uber, where he helped grow the company into one of the world's largest online travel firms.
He previously served as chief financial officer of IAC Travel and vice president of Allen & Company, an investment banker. Khosrowshahi is also on the boards of Expedia and Catalyst.org.
"Insider" refers to people in senior management positions and members of the board of directors, as well as people or entities that own more than 10% of the company's stock. The term has nothing to do with insider trading in this context.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan
Yasir Al-Rumayyan owned 396,011 shares of Uber as of May 6, 2023.
Al-Rumayyan served as an Uber board member until early 2023. He acted in that capacity for seven years, overseeing the Saudi Public Relations Fund's (PIF) 4% investment in the company. He's governor of the PIF and most of his business and personal interests are with the Saudi Arabian government and the LIV Golf Tour.
Al-Rumayyan is also chairman of Saudi Aramco, the third-largest public company in the world.
Nelson J. Chai
Nelson J. Chai owned 299,457 shares of Uber as of October 2023.
Chai was chief financial officer of Uber for several years, having previously served as CEO of Warranty Group, an insurance and warranty provider. He has also served as president of CIT Group, as chief financial officer of Merrill Lynch & Co., and has held executive leadership positions at NYSE Euronext and Archipelago Holdings. Chai sits on the board of Thermo Fisher Scientific. He left Uber in January 2024.
Top 3 Institutional Shareholders
Institutional investors hold the majority of Uber shares at about 83.85% of total shares.
Vanguard Group Inc.
Vanguard Group owned 167.63 million shares of Uber as of December 2023.
Vanguard came into being in 1975. It offered 424 mutual funds and ETFs as of January 2024, of which 208 were in the United States. Vanguard serves more than 50 million investors worldwide. It's investor-owned. Its shareholders technically own the investment company.
BlackRock Inc.
BlackRock Inc. owned 139.35 million shares of Uber as of December 2023.
Like Vanguard, Blackrock is a mutual fund and ETF management company with a trailing 12-month (TTM) revenue of $17,859,000 as of March 2024. It boasted more than $123 million in total assets at the close of 2023.
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley owned 123.85 million shares of Uber as of December 2023.
The company is a multinational financial services and investment firm that offers mutual funds, ETFs, and related products. The firm has capital markets, sales and trading, research, and investment banking branches, and its investment management businesses have an AUM of roughly $1.5 trillion.
Morgan Stanley's Growth Portfolio (MSEQX) holds UBER, which is the second-largest holding in the portfolio. It represents about 7.44% of assets.
How Was the California Class Action Lawsuit Against Uber Resolved?
The California drivers dropped their case against Uber and Lyft in March 2024 after a San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled in 2023 that they would have to individually arbitrate their claims. They would not be permitted to proceed with the lawsuit as a group.
Is It True That Dara Khosrowshahi Worked As an Uber Driver?
The Wall Street Journal published a profile of Dara Khosrowshahi in April 2023 in which Khosrowshahi indicated that he did indeed drive and deliver for Uber at one point after being appointed as CEO. He said he found "significant flaws" in the Uber process and set about fixing them.
Was Fidelity Once a Major Institutional Uber Shareholder?
FMR LLC, which operates under the name Fidelity, owned82.3 million shares of Uber, according to the company's 13F filing for the period ending December 31, 2020. It was the fourth-biggest institutional shareholder as of December 2023, holding 122.57 shares, just behind Morgan Stanley.
The Bottom Line
Uber has endured its share of suffering over the years. It reported a loss of $1.2 billion in the third quarter of 2022, but it rebounded to $221 in net income a year later in the same quarter of 2023. Revenue grew by 11% to $9.3 billion during that time. The rideshare giant will likely be around for quite a while to come.
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