Lance Armstrong says that he was one of the original Uber investors staking them $100,000 at a valuation of just $3.7 million. There are reports that Uber’s projected IPO will value the company at $120 billion. Armstrong wouldn’t say what percent of Uber he still owns but it is conceivable that his stake could be worth $1 billion or more today. Armstrong has battled many lawsuits after his doping admission on Oprah and the Uber investment was key for his family. “It’s worth a lot. It’s saved our family,” he says.
Lance Armstrong discussed his massive Uber success story in an interview on CNBC:
Lance Armstrong an Uber Billionaire?
When I met Chris Sacca he was at either Google or Twitter and Sacca’s personality is larger than life, we were having fun and we kept in touch and then some years later, probably around 2008 or 2009, he left to start his own venture capital fund called Lowercase Capital. He called me said looking for investors, would you invest. I’m thinking to myself this guy has a huge personality but he’s also very smart, very well-connected. Why not?
Invested $100,000 in Uber at a Valuation of $3.7 Million
So I invested in Chris Sacca. I didn’t even know that he did Uber. I thought he was buying up a bunch of Twitter shares from employees or former employees and the biggest investment in the Lowercase Fund One was Uber. It had a valuation of $3.7 million. I gave them a hundred thousand bucks. It’s worth a lot. It’s saved our family. I follow Uber very closely.
I’m Actually Worried About Travis (Kalanick)
I do know Travis Kalanick a little bit. Chris Sacca brought him to one of the tours. In hindsight, I think Dara has done a great job and with what they’re poised to do it is pretty impressive. I can’t like that (Kalanick’s firing) right, I mean I was that guy. Travis is Uber and Lance is LIVESTRONG. Is there not some hybrid solution here? You’re out of control, time-out? But again, in hindsight, they haven’t missed a beat.
I’m actually worried about Travis. I’ll email him sometimes because he’ll say things and I’m like dude, I’ve seen this movie and it’s got a real shitty ending. Of course, his ending has a lot of zeros on it. But you can’t question their decision now. I get it man. I get that this is your baby and you want to fight for it and you want to protect it and you will do anything, say anything, do anything, go anywhere, confront anybody, but in this day and age, 2018, you can’t.