Since it’s rise, Uber has made plenty of foes, from cab companies to local governments. But they’ve made friends along the way. They’ve made very rich and powerful friends.
I’m talking about friends like Microsoft. Microsoft is said to invest $100 million in Uber Technologies Inc. A spokesperson confirmed it on Friday. This helps bring the value of Uber Inc to $50 billion. It was just $40 billion earlier this year. Microsoft is just one of the investors who view Uber as the future of car transportation. Back in June 2015, Microsoft sold a piece of Bing’s mapping services to Uber. This deal opened up 100 jobs for Microsoft employees in data analysis for Bing’s mapping. Bing is Microsoft’s search engine. That’s not all. Uber and Microsoft combined Microsoft Cortana’s voice-controlled assistant (sort of like Siri) so it can hail Uber rides according to rider’s schedules. This upcoming investment is proof that the two companies have been working together for years. And they don’t plan on breaking up the relationship now. But Microsoft is being hush-hush. When Microsoft spokesperson Tony Imperati was asked about this alliance, he refused to comment.
This will only add fuel to Uber’s blazing inferno of success. The ride sharing app was founded in 2009. It didn’t make international waves until two or three years ago. And that was often because of the wrong reasons. Uber has been banned from California to Brazil, despite being in 300 cities and 57 countries. From New York to London, cabbies and limo drivers have taken to the streets in protests. Taxi and limo services around the globe have been disrupted. Now with an alliance with one of the most powerful tech companies in the world, Uber has arrived…even more so. I‘ve always believed competition is good for any free economy, and it helps everybody steps up their game. My only concern is that Uber is so loosely regulated they may feel they can get away with too much. Will Microsoft help them get a ‘too big to fail, too big to care’ attitude?