Bloomberg News
Uber Technologies Inc. raised $1.5 billion from its second-ever high-yield loan issuance, highlighting the strength of the leveraged loan market, which has benefited from rising interest rates while other riskier assets have wobbled.
Uber completed the loan deal the same week one of its self-driving cars struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona, causing the popular ride-sharing company to pull such cars from the road in the four cities where it has been testing them.
Uber also continues to lose money, a characteristic that would typically reduce the appeal of its debt to creditors, who generally care more about companies’ near-term abilities to generate cash and meet their loan obligations than their growth prospects.
Not including certain items like interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, Uber’s loss was $775 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $1.02 billion in last year’s third quarter. Uber also reported net revenue increased 12% to $2.26 billion from three months earlier, but it continues to operate at a loss as it invests in growth initiatives like expansion overseas and driverless car technology.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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