Uber has had a rough 2017, and its investors are eager to fix its foibles. One of them, Jason Calacanis, is so eager that he thinks the company should sell to Tesla. Calacanis told CNBC that putting the two companies together would give Uber the self-driving tech it needs, while giving Tesla an opportunity for market expansion. “If those two companies were together, they would beat everybody at transportation,” he said in the interview.
Beyond unlikely, the suggestion doesn’t account for several realities. For one, Uber and Tesla have vastly different approaches to self-driving technology (remember last week’s revelation that Uber’s former head of autonomous vehicles, Anthony Levandowski, wanted to start a #faketesla campaign?). On top of that, Wall Street probably isn’t keen to join together two companies that both lose hundreds of millions of dollars every quarter.
Calacanis’s highly speculative suggestion is more an indication of how uncomfortable investors are about Uber being leaderless. While Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who just founded yet another company, seems to like being the guy in charge, he probably has enough on his plate.
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.
