Moneybox

It Took Facebook Seven Years to Be Worth $50 Billion. Uber Needed Just Five.

It’s now German for “$$$$$$.”

Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images

Though it’s still a young company, Uber has long been a powerful magnet for investors. As Slate’s Alison Griswold explained in May, the company had previously been valued at more than $40 billion. At the time, the company was still looking to raise more capital, seemingly on the principle that there was no reason not to. The results of that funding round are now coming in, and they’ve left the company more ludicrously well off than ever.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Uber Technologies Inc. is now valued at close to an astonishing $51 billion. Putting this number in perspective, the Journal’s Douglas MacMillan and Telis Demos note that it took Facebook two more years to reach a similar valuation.

This latest figure purportedly comes on the back of close to $1 billion in new investment. New investors include Microsoft and Bennett Coleman & Co., an Indian company primarily involved in media endeavors. As MacMillan and Demos observe, Uber has faced difficulties in India after one of its drivers allegedly raped a female passenger. The company has since engaged in a concerted effort to convince India that its services are safe.

The Wall Street Journal notes that Uber “hasn’t publicly discussed plans for an initial public offering,” though it has taken other steps that suggest it may be preparing to do so. In the meantime, it’ll probably keep raking in money the way it knows best: sure-to-enrage surge pricing.