Those sleek, black Uber cars won’t be picking up Carl Icahn anytime soon.
Activist investor Icahn is giving his honk of approval to Uber’s rival ride-sharing service Lyft, driving $100 million into the business. The $2.5 billion-valued Lyft has brought in $150 million recently in an extension of a funding round that first closed in March, the Financial Times reports. Uber is aggressively seeking $2 billion to add to the $5 billion it has already raised.
“I believe that ridesharing is poised to become a fundamental component of our transportation infrastructure,” Icahn said.
Icahn Enterprises’ Jonathan Christodoro will become a Lyft director as part of the deal. While Icahn isn’t known for holding back criticism of a company’s management, he had positive things to say about Lyft.
“The company’s revenue growth to date has been extremely compelling, and increasing urbanisation over the next five to 10 years should enable the company to maintain that trajectory,” Mr Icahn said.
Tensions may still be on the horizon. Co-Lyft investor is Marc Andreessen, who Icahn has called “clueless about corporate governance” and accused of having a “high squeaky voice.” Andreessen, has called Icahn an “evil Captain Kirk” during their eBay battles. Lyft must be hoping these two don’t crash.
Photo: Alfredo Mendez via Flickr.