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This is How Much Money Lance Made from Uber
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From another ST thread wrote:
News reports suggest an early stage investment in Uber could net Lance $1 to $3 billion in investment gains.


Lance did not make anything close to that from his Uber investment. Because more precisely, he invested in Lowercase Capital's first investment fund, which in turn invested some, but much less than all, of its fund assets in Uber. If Lance had invested his $100K directly in Uber, then yes, he would be a billionaire (at least on paper).

These numbers are based on various reports I could find online, so may or may not be accurate. But they seem to be rather widely reported. Here is how we get to Lance's (indirect) stake in Uber:

#1: Lance invests in Lowercase Capital
  • Lance invests $100K in the first Lowercase Capital fund ("LC Fund"), which raised $8.5 million
  • Result: Lance owns 1.18% of the LC fund [$100K/$8.5M]


You can actually ignore #2 but for fun let's see what happened when LC Fund invested in Uber.


#2: Lowercase Capital invests in Uber
  • LC Fund invests $300,000 in Uber
  • Some reports say valuation was $4 million, others say $4.7 million. Let's be conservative and use the $4.7 million and assume it's a post-money valuation
  • Result: LC Fund owns 6.38% of Uber [$300K/$4.7M=6.38%]; Lance owns 0.0751% of Uber (indirectly through LC Fund) [1.18%*6.38%=0.0751%]

Note that the 6.38% would be LC Fund's stake immediately after its investment. It would be diluted (together with other shareholders) to the extent Uber issued subsequent equity, whether stock or options to employees. The most widely cited number is that LC Fund now owns 4% of Uber. Seems high to me based on the number of subsequent financings, and maybe that is really 3.51%, but let's keep things simple and assume it's 4%. Reports are also that Uber's potential IPO could value the company at $120 billion, so we will use that number. That allows us to estimate how much Lance made from Uber.


#3 How rich is Lance from Uber?
  • Current Uber valuation: $120 billion
  • LC Fund's Uber stake: $4.8 billion [4%*$120B]
  • Result: Lance's indirect Uber stake: $56.5 million [1.18%*$4.8B=$56.5M]



It would appear that Lance made more than $50 million from Uber. However, that actually understates how much he made from his $100K investment in LC Fund. Because remember, LC Fund raised $8.5 million and only $300K went to Uber. LC Fund also invested early in Twitter and Instagram. Those were massive home runs as well, if not as massive as Uber.


So nothing near $1-3 billion, but still not a bad return.

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Last edited by: refthimos: Dec 7, 18 13:33
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Re: This is How Much Money Lance Made from Uber [refthimos] [ In reply to ]
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I said this in the other thread on this, first of all some have the valuation of uber at 48 billion right now, not 120. But of course the market will have to determine that one day, but in the meantime we have to go off what private equity is paying for shares.

2nd thing is how long did Lance hang onto his shares in the fund, when and how many shares did he sell to get through the tough times? That certainly dilutes what he holds now, so I'm actually going with the lower of those numbers that he said one of was right, 10 to 20 million...

Nice synopsis though, I think a lot of people, including the writers of these stories, dont take a few seconds to even think about what really happened. Of course then the titles of their articles would not be so sensational, and get 90% less clicks.

Lance Armstrong makes 10 million in uber investment, mostly all gone now to pay for family losses....Doesnt quite have the ring that he has 3 billion now...
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Re: This is How Much Money Lance Made from Uber [monty] [ In reply to ]
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So the guy made money on an investment? $100 or a Million, investing is a risk reward business. I hope we all have made money on our investments. I really don't care if Lance is the wolf of Wall Street or makes/ loses a zillion on Wall street. It is what it is.
I suppose with his kind of wealth at one time he met some folks who know how to make money. I once thought J David was a smart investor and had lots of money too. Oops, But I sure liked the shorts and singlet he gave out in the Fall 1982 race.
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Re: This is How Much Money Lance Made from Uber [G-man] [ In reply to ]
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ya, that 100 grand to Lance at that time was chump change. He paid more for a painting that hung in his bathroom. I would not be surprised to hear he had dozens of those types of investments, most of which went bust. But you get that one that is a grand slam, and all the rest get amortized into oblivion. Ashton Kutcher was famous for this kind of investing, only on a larger scale, and he hit quite a few grand slams, so many it may dwarf his acting income...
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