Uber Raises $3.5 Billion From Saudi Arabia (fortune.com) 66
An anonymous reader writes: Ride-hailing giant Uber announced Wednesday that it had closed $3.5 billion in new funding from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund in an effort to shift the country's reliance on oil revenue. Also part of the deal, Public Investment Fund managing director Yasir Al Rumayyan will join Uber's board. The funding will not affect Uber's valuation of $62.5 billion. The company has said in the past that it plans to invest $250 million in the Middle East, where it currently operates in 15 cities across nine countries. Last week, Uber formed a "strategic partnership" with Toyota to provide its drivers with more affordable car purchase and lease terms.
Where women aren't allowed to drive (Score:5, Insightful)
FP?
Re:Where women aren't allowed to drive (Score:5, Interesting)
So what happens when Saudi Arabia gets self-driving cars? Will unescorted women be allowed to use them?
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I think they can drive with Burkas, but that's like driving drunk is modern countries. And if you're a drunk female Burka driver might as well drive off a cliff and get it over with.
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period. They also must wear burkas when in view of the public - so the moment they step outside they must be fully dressed. Not wearing one, or driving is a crime and there have been cases tried under Shariah law.
Re:Where women aren't allowed to drive (Score:4, Informative)
HTML fail... here;s the post again.
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No, they're not allowed to drive, period. They also must wear burkas when in view of the public - so the moment they step outside they must be fully dressed. Not wearing one, or driving is a crime and there have been cases tried under Shariah law.
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There is no law that requires women to wear a burka. Basically, to be seen in public a woman must:
1. Be escorted by a man
2. Be covered from neck downwards
3. Have their hair covered, some form of light head-scarf is enough
Women are not allowed to drive but exceptions can be made. Actually, driving over there is not for the faint-hearted bu
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I work for an engineering company that does business in Saudi Arabia, I have been there myself and I have sent female engineers there, with their consent, obviously.
There is no law that requires women to wear a burka. Basically, to be seen in public a woman must:
1. Be escorted by a man
2. Be covered from neck downwards
3. Have their hair covered, some form of light head-scarf is enough
Women are not allowed to drive but exceptions can be made. Actually, driving over there is not for the faint-hearted but that's another story. It's a country torn between its modernising royal family and its regressive clerics. You can see them trying to do the right thing and then failing; it's a delicate power balance.
Like all third world nations, laws are selectively enforced. Some areas will be more liberal, others will be more strict. This is especially volatile as the Saudi religious police (mutaween) are partially volunteer. Governance is provided by the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.
I've also done business in Saudi, in places where westerners are common the religious laws are relaxed on Saudi's (they don't really apply at all to westerners, the worst that will happen is a woman
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public opinion is changing in favor of repealing it.
Even among a lot of younger Saudis [youtube.com].
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Where better to operate a taxi service?
Of course (Score:1)
That country funds many similar organizations......
They have customers, drivers, brand, proven plan (Score:3, Informative)
Their primary asset is their customer base, and their proven ability to get more customers. Your right that the software, the core is the business, could be reproduced for under a million dollars. Getting millions of customers and putting together a team who can consistently run the business so succesfully is quite a bit more difficult.
Ultimately the value of a company (to an investor) is based on a) their projected profit over the next five to ten years or so and b) how consistently they meet projections
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Isn't the internet essentially about middlemen (as software)? /. is a middleman between me and you. Amazon is a middleman between product manufacturers and consumers. Isn't youtube a middleman between video content producers and video watchers?
It's quite funny that in most cases the end producers make between 0% and 20% and the middleman makes 80% or more.
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Backwards nation that is dying (Score:2)
Re:Backwards nation that is dying (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course, the price of oil is in the tank largely because they want it to be. They're trying to squeeze small US and Canadian producers out of business as well as hit Russia.
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If they hadn't put up so much in political donations we'd be looking at the House of Saud as something very different to being an ally.
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If that was their intention, they would have done this long ago. They are actually trying to squeeze Daesh, who get a large portion of their funding from the oil fields in Iraq and Libya which they've taken over, and are a much bigger threat to the Saudi regime if they are allowed to expand further.
Re:Backwards nation that is dying (Score:5, Insightful)
They're mostly trying to squeeze their mortal enemy Iran after the lifting of sanctions. They see little downside in the long term since it hurts the other oil producers as well. SA doesn't particularly like Russia especially after they invaded Afghanistan (SA encouraged people to wage jihad against the Soviet invaders and helped create the Taliban).
I'm hoping that with less income will help curtail SA's influence on Islam from their puritanical Wahhabism which has encouraged a lot of violence. Their madrases funded by oil money have pushed their puritanical views far and wide throughout the islamic world.
Re:Backwards nation that is dying (Score:5, Informative)
They're trying to squeeze small US and Canadian producers out of business as well as hit Russia.
They are actually trying to squeeze Daesh,
They're mostly trying to squeeze their mortal enemy Iran
Interesting that these three Slashdot foreign policy experts all disagree on the Saudis' motives. It's almost as if they have no fucking idea what they're talking about.
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It's almost as if they have no fucking idea what they're talking about.
Actually, they often don't. [independent.co.uk] :D
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"They are actually trying to squeeze Daesh,"
The King may be trying to squeeze Daesh. An unknown, perhaps large number of Saudi's accountable-to-no-one princes support and fund ISIS.
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I don't know about other people, but my father is a president of an oil company and I was just chatting about this issue with another former oil exec, so....
The US has been en route to become the world's largest producer. Canada's been on a big upswing as well. Most of this production costs significantly more per barrel than what Saudi Arabia can produce it for. Hence Saudi Arabia can crush them by flooding the market. It's not painless to Saudi Arabia, mind you, it's definitely hurting their budget. B
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They FUNDED that bunch until not very long ago!
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No, this is a common myth. Saudi has always been in opposition to Daesh. Their dog in this game is Ahrar ash-Sham, who works with the US's dog in the game, the FSA. Note that each of these have a number of subgroups.
While the FSA has until recently been rather undersupported by the US, Ahrar ash-Sham has always received ample patronage from Saudi Arabia and its allied gulf states. And while the US has often tried to keep the FSA on a leash to mainly fight Daesh, Saudi supports Ahrar ash-Sham's fight aga
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Daesh really hasn't gotten that much external funding from big donors, from what it known. It's a fair bit of small donor external funding, but most of its funding has been from oil revenues and, to a lesser extent, taxes (as well as side streams from selling antiquities, slaves, etc). It really has been running what is effectively a state. A state that has always been against Saudi Arabia (they consider themselves the rightful rulers of Mecca and Medina).
It's true that the tensions have ratcheted up in
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Currently their plan to get away from oil, for the ones at the top only of course, is to become an economic parasite, using investment capital from oil, to bleed other countries economies for ever, whilst contributing nothing positive to those economies, ever. It is looking like given recent developments, they might not have that much left to investment, as the the house of Saud royals are about to get royally screwed in US courts and will have to pay the rest of the world for the harm the House of Saud ha
Sovereign wealth funds. (Score:1)
shift the country's reliance on oil... (Score:3)
seems excessive (Score:4, Funny)
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s/really need/can afford/
Uber is everywhere (Score:2)
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That's it (Score:2)
What's so special about Uber? (Score:2)
I ask this as someone who's only used traditional taxicabs, what exactly is so special about Uber?
What do they offer that can't be duplicated by a competitor? The smartphone app, the pricing algorithm? Brand name recognition?
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