General Motors Co. is acquiring SoftBank Vision Fund 1’s equity ownership stake in Cruise for $2.1 billion, and separately will make an additional $1.35 billion investment in Cruise. GM acquired a majority ownership stake in 2016.
Cruise is a commercial autonomous ridesharing and delivery group.
The Cruise Origin is a zero-emissions, shared, electric vehicle that has been designed from the ground up to operate without a human driver. GM is manufacturing the Origin in Michigan at Factory ZERO.
In February, 2022, Cruise became the first company to offer fully driverless rides to the public in a major U.S. city.
GM Chair and CEO, Mary Barra, says: “We are extremely pleased to announce GM is leveraging the strength of its balance sheet to capitalize on the opportunity to increase its equity investment in Cruise and advance our integrated autonomous vehicle strategy. We continue to believe our investment represents an extraordinary opportunity for creating long-term shareholder value. Our increased investment position not only simplifies Cruise’s shareholder structure, but also provides GM and Cruise maximum flexibility to pursue the most value-accretive path to commercializing and unlocking the full potential of AV technology.”
Kyle Vogt, Cruise CEO, adds: “GM’s increased investment illustrates its commitment to Cruise and our mission of creating a better world by deploying driverless cars at scale. Cruise will continue to operate as it does today – an independent company working alongside GM in a flexible, collaborative partnership. Cruise and GM’s continued partnership as well as GM’s financial strength and manufacturing scale are significant enablers and key differentiators for Cruise as we accelerate our progress and enter this next phase of commercialization.”
General Motors, its subsidiaries and its joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Baojun and Wuling brands.
Keyword: GM Spends an Additional $3.65 Billion on Cruise; Buys Softbank’s Stake