CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICEJune 2, 2016

Massive new investment shows Uber is early leader in mobility industry

Newswise — Uber raised $3.5 billion from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund this week, one of the largest cash infusion made by a private investor into a start-up. Drew Pascarella is lecturer of finance at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. Before joining Cornell University Pascarella has spent 15 years working at bulge bracket investment banks and has advised clients on over $35bn of Merger and Acquisition transactions. He says that the massive investment secured by Uber shows how players in the ‘mobility’ industry are looking for opportunities to create value for next-generation technologies and services.

Bio: https://www.johnson.cornell.edu/Faculty-And-Research/Profile?id=ddp4

Pascarella says:

“This is yet another massive move as everyone tries to pick winners in next-generation ‘mobility.’ Given the move towards autonomous vehicles and the need to reduce emissions, everyone is trying to figure out who will own mobility in the next five, 10, and 15 years.

“As the relationship between a driver and a car fundamentally changes, opportunities mount for companies to destroy value in the traditional transportation industry, and create massive value for the next generation. Much like what happened a century ago, when cars conquered the industry once owned by railroads.

“But, this time, everyone has the benefit of hindsight. Investors not wanting to lose out are looking for next-generation investment opportunities. Uber, Ford, General Motors, etc. are all making bets to ensure they are positioned to win in next-generation. The early leaders in this arena are Uber, Google, and tech companies such as NVIDIA, and Tesla. Of those, Uber is arguably the most ‘pure play’ of the lot, as they have no current generation ‘baggage,’ are infinitely scalable, and already have mindshare with the public.”

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