Skift Take
Uber officials tamped down speculation that it is hungry for a big travel acquisition.
Following reports that Uber had explored an acquisition of Expedia Group, Uber’s CEO and CFO did everything they could Thursday to stress that organic growth is the priority and that acquisitions would face a high bar.
“Now to quickly touch on M&A, we remain extraordinary disciplined, and I want to emphasize that all opportunities are reviewed with a rigorous value creation mindset and Uber’s bar for M&A has never been higher,” Uber CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah said in his prepared remarks during the company’s third-quarter earnings call.
Mahendra-Rajah said “the best deal is not having to do a deal at all,” citing what Uber’s CEO has stated in the past. The highest priorities, he said, were organic growth and capital returns for investors.
The words “Expedia” and “travel” were not uttered during the…