| -Uber dismissed the idea of buying Bitcoin with cash but accepted it as payments. -However, the news came after the Tesla announcement on buying $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. -Uber reported it had $5.65 billion in cash and cash equivalents. -Like Uber, PepsiCo CFO Hugh Johnston told CNBC that it had the conversation about buying bitcoin with its cash. |
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said CNBC on Thursday the rideshare firm quickly dismissed the idea of buying bitcoin with corporate cash but will accept crypto as payment.
Moreover, the news came after the Tesla announcement on buying $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. And Tesla also plans to accept Bitcoin as payment.
Uber CEO Says Firm to Consider Crypto for Rides
In an interview on Squawk Box, Khosrowshahi asked whether Uber had considered similar actions to Tesla. Khosrowshahi replied that the company is going to keep the cash safe. Further, he said the company is not in the speculation business. Moreover, he added that “the upside in our company is in the business that we’ve built, not the investments that we invest in.”
More so, Khosrowshahi, left open the possibility that the ride sharing and food delivery provider will accept cryptocurrencies as payment.
<blockquote>“Just like we accept all kinds of local currency, we are going to look at cryptocurrency and/or bitcoin in terms of currency to transact… if there’s a benefit there, if there’s a need there, we’ll do it. We’re just not going to do it as part of a promotion.”</blockquote>
Uber reported it had $5.65 billion in cash and cash equivalents, along with $1.18 billion in short-term investments, as of December 31. Moreover, the company’s overall loss for the quarter was $968 million. More so, it is an improvement from the $1.1 billion loss in the same period past year.
Even more, Uber’s two largest business offerings are ride-sharing and food delivery. The ride-sharing segment has suffered as people stayed home and traveled less. On the other hand, Uber Eats has seen its usage surge as people ordered delivery instead of dining in at restaurants. Nevertheless, both businesses showed different fates during the pandemic.
Like Uber, PepsiCo CFO Hugh Johnston told CNBC that the beverage firm has had the conversation about buying bitcoin with its cash. Furthermore, PepsiCo reported a fourth-quarter profit of $1.47 per share on revenue of $22.46 billion.
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