Yandex, Uber to Spin off Self-Driving Business From Joint Venture
September 04 2020 - 5:17AM
Dow Jones News
By Adria Calatayud
Yandex NV and Uber Technologies Inc. plan to spin off
self-driving vehicle business Yandex Self Driving Group BV from
their ride-hailing and food-tech joint-venture MLU BV, Yandex said
Friday.
Russian tech company Yandex said it will inject $150 million
into the self-driving business, of which $100 million will be
through an equity investment and the remaining $50 million as a
convertible loan, and buy a portion of Uber's stake in Yandex Self
Driving Group.
Following these transactions, Yandex will own a 73% stake in
Yandex Self Driving Group, Uber will own 19% and the remaining 8%
will be reserved for management and employees, the Russian company
said.
Yandex said it has been developing its proprietary self-driving
technology since 2017, and its autonomous vehicle fleet currently
has 130 cars. Since 2019, the company has also been developing its
own delivery robot, in a bid to automate last-mile delivery of
small- and medium-sized packages.
"The additional capital that we are investing in [Yandex Self
Driving Group ] will allow it to continue to pursue the R&D and
productization of autonomous mobility," Yandex Chief Executive
Arkady Volozh said.
Furthermore, Yandex separately said it entered into an agreement
with Uber to contribute its Yandex.Drive car-sharing business to
their joint venture. After the addition of Yandex.Drive to MLU,
Yandex will own 61.7% of MLU, while Uber will own 33.5%, the
company said.
Both transactions are subject to customary closing conditions
and are expected to close in the third quarter, Yandex said.
MLU was formed after Uber in 2017 combined its Russian
operations with Yandex.Taxi.
Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 04, 2020 05:02 ET (09:02 GMT)
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