Uber is offloading its money-losing car lease business
Uber has been eager to ditch its car leasing business for months, and it appears to have found a buyer. Wall Street Journal sources claim that the ridesharing company is selling its Xchange Leasing unit to the car marketplace Fair.com. While it’s not clear how much Fair is paying, it reportedly won’t be a clean break. Uber will both take a stake in Fair and point would-be drivers to the site through its app. Fair, in return, will offer jobs to roughly 150 workers affected by the switch.
Other companies in the running had included Avis Budget Group (yes, the car rental agency), activist investor Carl Icahn’s self-titled Icahn Enterprises, Innovate Auto Finance and two capital investment firms.
The sale comes hot on the heels of Uber merging its Russian business and reflects the company’s increasing determination to improve its bottom line. Simply speaking, Uber is bleeding cash — it can’t keep running money-losing operations forever. Even though the leasing business helped prospective drivers who might not otherwise have a car, it wasn’t going to be worthwhile if it ultimately dragged down the entire business.
(26)
