Uber aims at Free Now (joint venture of Daimler and BMW)
Uber is considering purchasing the Free Now passenger transport service, part of the joint venture between Daimler and BMW
Uber Technologies is considering the purchase of the Daimler and BMW joint venture, “Free Now”, which deals with ride-hailing. Some sources cited by Forbes affirm this.
Uber has expressed interest in a potential acquisition of Free Now after the company's efforts to attract additional investors failed with the Covid-19 crisis. Due to the disruption of non-compulsory travel during the various lockdowns, Free Now found itself struggling during the pandemic and Daimler and BMW began to withdraw.
If the deal goes through, the deal would increase Uber's market share in Europe and Latin America.
At the moment, representatives from Uber and BMW have declined to comment, and a Daimler spokesperson said the company does not comment on the speculations.
All the details.
UBER HAS SHOWN INTEREST IN FREE NOW
As Forbes was the first to report, Uber would have expressed interest in a potential acquisition of “Free Now” after the latter's efforts to attract additional investors – in the face of the Covid-19 crisis – did not pay off.
Any deal would have to contend with market difficulties, which could make it more difficult to agree on a price, an inside source said.
There is no certainty that a transaction will come about and other bidders may emerge.
THE JOINT-VENUTRE OF DAIMLER AND BMW
Daimler and BMW merged their mobility businesses last year and merged them into a joint venture called “Your Now”, which includes five businesses including the Free Now ride-hailing service.
Free Now worked like MyTaxi and has built-in ride-hailing apps, including France's Kapten, Greece's Beat and Romania's Clever Taxi.
THE EVALUATION OF FREE NOW
But with all the useless travel interrupted during the blockades imposed by the governments since March, Free Now found itself struggling during the pandemic and Daimler and BMW have started to retreat entirely.
According to Finimize , the industry-leading US platform, it may now be able to grab the cheap rival taxi app. Daimler valued its half of Your Now at $ 720 million in June, which suggests that the entire company, including the non-ride-hailing segments, is worth around $ 1.4 billion.
WHAT UBER IS DOING
As Bloomberg recalled, Uber has recently tried to sell minority stakes in several ride-hailing deals. Just last week it reported that the San Francisco-based company was looking to sell part of its $ 6.3 billion stake in Chinese ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing.
As early as 2017, Uber had streamlined its operations outside of its core markets ahead of the 2019 IPO. That's why Finimize believes the potential acquisition of Free Now makes sense. “Uber would not only save the money it would normally spend to compete with the rival company, but it could also increase its market share – and profit – in Europe and Latin America.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/uber-punta-free-now-joint-venture-di-daimler-e-bmw/ on Wed, 30 Sep 2020 06:30:18 +0000.