Uber Says Outcome of Criminal Inquiries Could Hurt Business

(Bloomberg) -- Uber Technologies Inc. said it's the target of multiple inquiries and investigations -- including criminal inquiries by the U.S. Justice Department -- that could harm its future outlook.

In a prospectus filed Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering, the ride-hailing giant said the probes by domestic and foreign government agencies cover a range of subjects.

Namely, it may face additional claims related to a 2016 data breach, when the company lost 57 million users' personal information.

Other probes include:

• Use of Greyball, a tool used to deceive law enforcement officials
• Deceptive business practices and fraud
• Illicit acquisition of a rape victim's medical records
• Disclosures to investors

“Investigations and enforcement actions from such entities, as well as continued negative publicity and an erosion of current and prospective platform users' trust, could severely disrupt our business," Uber said in the filing. “These government inquiries and investigations are time-consuming and require a great deal of financial resources and attention from us and our senior management.”

The long-awaited filing gives potential investors their first look at hundreds of pages of detailed information about Uber, which was founded in 2009 and has had a winding road to the public market. Uber, which is seeking to raise about $10 billion in its IPO, according to people familiar with the matter, plans to kick off a road show to market shares to potential investors this month and would begin trading publicly in May.

The offering is expected to be the largest U.S. IPO this year and among the 10 largest of all time on U.S. exchanges.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kartikay Mehrotra in San Francisco at kmehrotra2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Wollman at ewollman@bloomberg.net, Jillian Ward

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