Uber's new top lawyer, Tony West talked Waymo down from a $500 million payment to $250 million

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Uber top lawyer Tony West

• Waymo's settlement demands went from $1 billion last year, to $500 million this week to $250 million in stock.
• Uber's new top lawyer hired by its new CEO is being hailed internally as the master of this deal.
• Even though Uber paid Waymo hundreds of millions in stock, Uber's top executives and board views this settlement as a big win internally, a source says.

The top brass inside Uber are thrilled with the performance of Uber's new top lawyer Tony West. He was the key person who negotiated a deal with Waymo that ended an ugly lawsuit.

On Friday, a few days after the case had gone to court, both sides agreed on a settlement. Waymo asked for $1 billion in settlement talks last year. Uber's executives and boards rejected that.

Once the trial began, Waymo offered a settlement price of $500 million. Uber's board rejected that deal, too, a person familiar with the matter told Business Insider.

And it was West who worked with Waymo's general counsel to craft a counter offer the board would swallow: Less of a payment to Waymo coupled with more assurances and control. The stock offer was reduced to $250 million at a high valuation of $72 billion. But it included an agreement to that allows Waymo to make sure its confidential information is not being incorporated into Uber technology, Uber announced on Friday.

Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and the board view this as a win internally, this person tells us. It clears up the lawsuit prior to a planned IPO for next year and it turns Waymo into investors and, perhaps, an ally, rather than an enemy.

Waymo had sued Uber a year ago claiming Uber had stolen its trade secrets. The lawsuit caused a lot of damage and drama for Uber and cleaning it up was one of the top three priorities given to new Khosrowshahi when he took the job, someone familiar tells us.

Khosrowshahi's other top priorities included securing a massive investment from Softbank deal (which closed last month) and getting the company ready for an IPO. That IPO has been promised for 2019.