Uber claims that its ride-share service UberX is faster, cheaper and more convenient than taxis. At first glance the benefits seem obvious. Riders can sign up for the mobil app and instantly request a ride. You can see how far away the closest driver on your phone. Enter your credit card info once and no cash is ever exchanged. The service has now launched in Chattanooga.
Staff photo illustration by Laura W. McNuttUber raised $1.2 billion in its latest round of funding from venture capitalists, a sign investors were little fazed by the ride-hailing app’s recent spate of bad publicity over privacy violations and its corporate culture.
The latest investment put a value on Uber at $40 billion.
That’s bigger than the stock market values of companies such as American Airlines and Twitter, or the combined value of car-rental veterans Hertz and Avis Budget Group. At the same time, it is not a guarantee that Uber would receive the same valuation as a publicly traded company that it does as a venture-backed business.
San Francisco-based Uber triggered a wave of online criticism recently after a top executive suggested spending $1 million to dig up dirt on a journalist critical of the driver-on-demand company.
It was not the first time Uber has been called out for actions by its drivers or its corporate culture. It is investigating one of its employees for tracking another journalist’s ride, which has raised fears that Uber is misusing customers’ private location information.