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ANI Technologies Private Limited, promoters of Ola, have issued an official statement denying the reports of Uber buying a controlling stake of its competitor Ola.
The reports surfaced in a Mumbai-based newspaper and its website, mentioning that certain investors in Ola plan to sell their stake to Uber.
As per the article, a source close to the deal said that Uber is close to acquiring a controlling stake in rival Ola. He claimed that except for Japanese investor SoftBank, the rest of the shareholders in the Bangalore-based startup including promoters Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati would exit from it.
Avnish Bajaj, Managing Director of Matrix Partners India, one of Ola’s key and early investors, and also one of the board members said, “It cannot be further from the truth that Uber is attempting to take a stake in Ola. No such discussions have taken place and even if we are approached anytime in the future, we have no intentions of selling to Uber.”
Ola issued a statement saying, “The article, attributed to an ‘unnamed source’ is completely false, misleading, malicious and planted in the said newspaper with the intent of causing harm to the Ola brand and creating confusion among our stakeholders.”
Ola is now planning to initiate legal action and seek redressal and compensation for the damage caused by this irresponsible reporting from the newspaper.
We reached out to Uber regarding the reports and they refused to comment on the development, calling it ‘speculative’.
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