From re/code:
Did last week’s online outrage hinder the ongoing Uber mega-funding round? Apparently not.
Investors still seem to be bullish on the ride-sharing company, despite the recent outcry about its trustworthiness and ethics, said multiple sources who have talked with the company during its ongoing pitches to raise a yet another enormous round of investment.
This is for one big reason: Uber is telling potential investors that it expects a gross revenue run rate of more than $4 billion for 2014. The gross run rate is on track to more than double in 2015, to some $10 billion, added those who have heard the pitch.
Uber itself keeps about 20 percent of that gross revenue, the total amount that it bills to customers, giving it about $1 billion or more in net revenue once costs are taken out.
As such, the discussed valuation for the latest round is apparently now at $30 billion, several sources said. We’d previously reported $25 billion, although even higher numbers had already been publicly floated....MORE
*...Uber will eventually replace the people who drive its cars with cars that drive themselves, CEO Travis Kalanick said today at the Code Conference....
...Asked about what he would tell the Uber drivers who will some day replaced, Kalanick said that day was still a long way off. But it's also inevitable, he said. "I'd say 'Look, this is the way of the world, and the world isn't always great.' We all have to find ways to change with the world." His statement came a day after the company boasted that its drivers could earn $90,000 a year....
