Travis Kalanick sold a massive chunk of his Uber stake as he scales up his next act

Reuters/Andrew Kelly

Uber founder and former CEO at the company's IPO at the New York Stock Exchange in May.

• Uber founder Travis Kalanick sold 20.3 million shares of the company as its post-IPO lockup period expired last week
• According to public filings, the sales leaves him with a roughly 4.5% stake in the ride-hailing giant.
• Kalanick appears to be actively scaling up his next act, delivery-only restaurants, following a previously unreported investment from Saudi Arabia.
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Uber's former chief executive and ousted founder Travis Kalanick cashed out a massive chunk of his stake in the ride-hailing giant last week as the company's post-IPO lockup period expired.

Travis Kalanick, who relinquished his executive role amid scandal in 2017, sold 20.3 million shares at an average price totaling about $547 million on Friday, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Last week, insiders including executives and early investors, were allowed to sell their stock for the first time since Uber went public in May. The lockup period, as this 180-day restriction is known, is a mainstay of most IPOs and the practice is designed to reduce share volatility in newly public names.

Uber's, however, proved unique last week after heavy selling sent the stock's price falling nearly 9% to fresh lows. The company is now less valuable than it was in 2015, well before its public offering, leaving even some private investors from later rounds underwater. Shares are now down 36% since the IPO

Following the sales, Kalanick retains a roughly 4.6% stake in Uber, according to Bloomberg calculations, worth about $2.5 billion. He also remains on the company's board of directors.

Last week, new insights into the 43-year-old's next act were revealed as The Wall Street Journal reported an investment by Saudi Arabia's public investment fund into "CloudKitchens," a delivery-only restaurant startup run by Kalanick.

In the new space, known by monikers like virtual restaurants or dark kitchens, he will be directly competing with Uber, which is rapidly scaling up Uber Eats, including similar dark-kitchen offerings.