Uber spent $3.3 billion on acquisitions in 2018 and 2019

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Uber’s S-1, filed publicly on Thursday, revealed around $3.3 billion in acquisition expenses in 2018 and 2019.
The company also disclosed its pricetag for JUMP, the bike share company it paid $139 million for in 2018, according to the filing.
This means Uber spent 10X on acquisitions between March 2018 and March 2019 than Lyft spent in 2018.
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Uber’s S-1, which the company made public on Thursday, is a treasure trove of financial minutiae which reveals what it’s like inside the books of one of Silicon Valley’s hottest startups.

Among the gems in Uber’s S-1: an outline of where and how the company spent its money on acquisitions.

In 2019, Uber acquired the Middle Eastern ride-sharing company Careem for $3.1 billion — $1.7 billion in convertible notes, and $1.4 billion in cash.

In 2018, Uber made two tiny acquisitions.

To expand into areas of transportation beyond cars, Uber acquired the bicycle and scooter sharing company JUMP, for $139 million – a price which was previously undisclosed.

That figure was made up from 2.6 million in Uber shares, nearly 500,000 in stock options and $46 million in cash. It included $37 million for JUMP’s tech, $4 million to its tax liabilities, $10 million for its assets, $4 million to its liabilities, and $100 million in "goodwill," which is essentially payment for the brand value of a desirable company.

Uber also acquired a small restaurant technology company called OrderTalk to integrate its food delivery service Uber Eats with the point-of-sale systems inside of restaurants. Uber didn’t disclose how much it paid for OrderTalk.

Lyft also kept busy

Uber’s small rival Lyft spent $312 million on acquisitions in the fourth quarter of 2018, according its own S-1, filed publicly on March 1. And the company hasn’t disclose any acquisitions so far in 2019.

Of that $312 million, $250.9 million was spent on Motivate, a bike sharing platform headquartered in New York and backed by Al Gore. Lyft acquired Motivate to "establish a solid foothold in the bike share market and offer access to new transportation options on the Lyft Platform," according to the S-1.

The S-1 also shared the nitty gritty of exactly how Lyft valued Motivate. About half of the total, $128.6 million, came from the value of Motivate’s assets, minus its liabilities. Assets in this case includes its cash, prepaid expenses, property, equipment along with "intangibles" like contracts with cities, user relationships and developed technology.

Perhaps more striking is that $122 million of Motivate’s pricetag was in goodwill — which the company defines as "significant estimates and assumptions, especially with respect to intangible assets." That’s to say, Lyft spent $122 million on the bet that Motivate would be as good as it thinks it is.

Lyft also committed to investing $100 million into Motivate’s growth in NYC, according to the S-1. News of the deal was announced in July, though it officially closed at the end of November.

But Lyft also made two other acquisitions during the fourth quarter, worth a total of $62 million. These acquisitions are referenced in the S-1 as "two business combinations," which involved $35 million in cash, $25.3 million in stock, and $1.7 million in "indemnification," which is legalese for a guarantee against any losses that one of the parties might face.

While Lyft was light on the details, it was announced on October 23 that Lyft had acquired Blue Vision Labs, a GV-backed AR platform that Lyft added to its self-driving technology division.

TechCrunch previously reported that Lyft acquired Blue Vision Labs for $72 million. According to the S-1, that figure was wrong.

It’s unclear at this time what the second acquisition was, or how much of that total $62 million figure includes either one of the acquisitions.

While the details are new, Lyft is far from a novice in the world of acquisitions. The company acquired a range of companies, from the on-demand car wash startup Cherry which it acquired for its operations team in 2013, to the live-streaming social media platform Kamcord which Lyft acqui-hired for its engineering talent at the end of 2017.

Do you know what Lyft’s second mystery acquisition is, or how much Uber paid for OrderTalk? Email bpeterson@businessinsider.com.

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Uber has filed to go public in what could be the biggest IPO in years

‘I won’t be perfect, but I will listen to you.’ Uber CEO outlines the company’s ‘enormous’ opportunity while acknowledging its turbulent past in letter to investors

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Source: Business Insider – bpeterson@businessinsider.com (Becky Peterson)