Jeff Bezos, world's richest man, is about to get even richer
- When Uber goes public next week, some early investors in the ride-hailing company stand to make handsome profits.
- Jeff Bezos is among that group -- his $3 million stake could be worth $400 million at IPO time.
- Ousted founder and CEO Travis Kalanick is expected to make nearly $9 billion from his 8.6 percent stake
The rich keep getting richer. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, whose estimated net worth of $157 billion makes him the richest man in the world, is expected to haul in hundreds of millions of dollars from Uber's anticipated initial public offering next week.
The 55-year-old tech entrepreneur was one of the early investors in the ride-hailing app. When Uber goes public, it's expected to be valued at more than $80 billion. Uber said it anticipates that the initial public offering will be priced between $44 and $50 per share.
Bezos invested both personally and through Benchmark, a venture capital firm known for its early-stage funding of Dropbox, Twitter, Snapchat and other successful tech companies, tech website The Information reported. He personally sunk $3 million into Uber for a stake that's now estimated to be worth $400 million, said The Information, citing a person familiar with the matter. Benchmark, which invested $30 million, stands to make roughly $7.9 billion on its early investment.
Bezos's wealth was scrutinized earlier this year when he and wife MacKenzie Bezos announced their divorce, which is expected to make her one of the richest women in the world. The bulk of his wealth is tied to his 12 percent stake in Amazon, which is valued at more than $108 billion.
Other big winners from the Uber IPO include ousted founder and CEO Travis Kalanick, who stands to make nearly $9 billion from his 8.6 percent stake -- more than any other individual shareholder. Co-founder Garrett Camp owns 6 percent of the company, held by his startup studio Expa-1. Arianna Huffington, who joined Uber's board in April 2016 and later helped rehabilitate the company after Kalanick's departure, owns 22,000 shares.
Matt Cohler is listed as the largest individual shareholder, but only because he's the named director for Benchmark Capital's 11 percent share. The largest shareholder overall is SoftBank (SB Cayman 2), which owns 222,228,000 shares (16.3 percent) of Uber. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, a government-owned sovereign wealth fund, was also an early investor and owns 72,841,000 shares (5.3 percent.)