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Mutual Funds Mark Down Uber Investments By Up To 15 Percent

Mutual Funds Mark Down Uber Investments By Up To 15 Percent

Following a year of sexual harassment and other scandals for Uber Technologies Inc., four mutual-fund companies have marked down their investments in the ride-hailing giant by as much as 15 percent — the first such price cuts that suggest these investors are souring.

Uber, which is valued at about $68 billion, has struggled to rebound from a string of scandals, executive departures including the ouster of its CEO, and a blockbuster lawsuit from rival Alphabet Inc. over allegedly stolen trade secrets.

The company faces a continued fallout from a probe into its culture after allegations of sexual harassment and sexism.

From Wall Street Journal. Story by Rolfe Winkler and Greg Bensinger.

Investors including Vanguard marked down their Uber stakes for the June 30 quarter, while Fidelity maintained its estimate

Vanguard Group, Principal and Hartford Funds all marked down their shares by 15 percent to $41.46 a share for the quarter ended June 30, according to the fund companies’ latest disclosure documents. T. Rowe Price Group Inc. cut the estimated price of its Uber shares by about 12 percent to $42.70 for the same period.

Uber’s shares don’t trade publicly, so the mutual-fund companies that hold them must estimate the shares’ worth each quarter. Seven mutual-fund companies had mostly maintained a $48.77 share price since the fourth quarter of 2015, when Uber first sold its shares to investors at that price.

Fidelity Investments held its estimate of $48.77 as of June 30. The one outlier is BlackRock Inc., which wrote up the shares slightly each of the past two quarters, settling at $53.88 as of June 30.

Amid all the controversies, Uber has sought to shore up its financials after reporting a loss of more than $3 billion last year and $708 million in the first quarter, according to people familiar with the matter. The company in July combined its money-losing Russian operations with Yandex NV’s Yandex.Taxi, the more popular ride-hailing firm there. Uber is also winding down its U.S. subprime auto-leasing business after realizing losses per vehicle were $9,000 on average, 18 times what was previously believed, according to people familiar with the matter.

Read more at Wall Street Journal.