Former Uber Technologies CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick walks on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during the company’s IPO May 10, 2019.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
Travis Kalanick is on course to completely exit his stake in Uber.
The co-founder and former CEO of the ride-hailing company has sold more than $2.5 billion worth of shares in Uber since a lockup period expired last month, leaving him with less than 10% of his holdings left, according to public filings.
Kalanick has been systematically selling shares since Nov. 6 at a pace that indicates he’ll be completely divested from Uber within days. He dumped another $383 million in shares last week and his remaining stake is worth about $250 million.
The sales have been a headwind for Uber in its rocky first year as a public company. Investors have punished the shares of loss-making companies engaging in hyped IPOs this year, and Uber has rarely traded above its $45 IPO price, most recently trading hands at under $31 a share.
Kalanick’s move, interpreted by some as a vote of no confidence in current management, could raise questions about his status as an Uber board member, according to the FT, which earlier reported on the sales. Other former executives, including co-founder Garrett Camp, have sold shares as well, but not at the scale that Kalanick has.
But it might just be that Kalanick, who was ousted as Uber CEO in 2017 amid a series of scandals, is focused on his latest venture, CloudKitchens. The start-up has been scooping up real estate around the world in a bet that restaurants will rent capacity to create food for delivery to customers.