By Stan Schroeder From Mashable

Uber is close to raising a new round of funding which would bring the company’s valuation to $40 billion, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing insider sources. Uber is reportedly looking to raise at least $1 billion.

According to the report, T. Rowe Price Group is looking to invest in the ride-sharing service. The U.S. investment firm was not known for investing in Internet companies until it participated in a $100 million round of funding in Twitter back in September 2009. The company also disclosed in April 2011 it had invested in a number of web companies, including a $190.5 million investment in Facebook.

The deal is not done, and terms and the investor group still could change, Bloomberg’s sources said. Reps from Uber could not be reached for comment.

The report, which first surfaced as a rumor in early November 2014, comes after a bad couple of weeks for Uber, in which the company’s leaders were criticized for suggesting they could dig dirt on certain journalists, as well as a slightly shady new privacy policy.

The toxic buzz around Uber caused some vocal defections on Twitter and prompted rival Lyft to have its best week ever, but investors seem to have shrugged it off. Some, including Jason Calcanis, a self-described small investor in the company, has defended the company.

Reports have also surfaced that undermine initial claims in BuzzFeed Editor Ben Smith’s initial report of the circumstances behind Michael’s comments. Smith’s write-up didn’t state that the comments were made during a private conversation between the two of them.

USA Today’s Michael Wolff, who invited Smith to the event, took issue with Smith’s representation. “The article implies that the Michael remarks were to the dinner itself, heard by everyone, and unchallenged, instead of a conversation that no one else knew had occurred,” Wolff wrote. Smith was also given the chance to run the idea by Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who was taking questions from the audience, but declined, Wolff wrote.

Finally, Nicole Campbell, a friend of Michael’s, wrote in The Huffington Post that the conversation was hypothetical. “There was no anti-feminist sentiment, no attacking families, no attacking children, no anger, no threats against anyone, no action plan. Nothing. It was clear to me that this was all a vague, civilized conversation. I am a woman and I am sensitive to any kind of talk like that.”

The murky explanation of events don’t obscure the fact that Uber has used its God view to track at least one journalist and that the company’s management have exhibited boorish tendencies. (Kalanick has called his company “Boob-er” for its ability to get him women, for instance.)

As a result, the Michael allegations were sort of a tipping point for some Uber users, even though the report itself is dubious.

Despite the backlash, Kalanick fell short of firing Michael. People who know Michael say his remarks were out of character and praise his ability at deal-making. According to a Bloomberg report, Michael is integral to Uber’s fundraising success and its recent deals, including one with Spotify that lets passengers play their tunes while they catch a ride.

Investors are also able to look past Uber’s latest foibles by noting that Uber is bent on global expansion — Asia is its biggest focus right now — and the latest reports are likely to have a limited impact on foreign markets. For what it’s worth, branding experts also expect Uber’s damage to be limited in the U.S. as well.

Uber raised $1.2 billion June 2014 at a valuation of $17 billion. If the latest report is true, the company’s valuation will skyrocket from a rumored $1 billion in April 2013 to 40 times that amount in a mere 18 months.

IMAGE: Travis-kalanick1

In this July 10, 2012 file photo, Uber CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick arrives at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.IMAGE: AP PHOTO/PAUL SAKLUMA, FILE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

For more on this story go to: http://mashable.com/2014/11/26/uber-40-billion/

See also iNews Cayman related story published may 12 2014 “UK cabbies are mad at Uber and they’re not going to take it anymore” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/uk-cabbies-are-mad-at-uber-and-theyre-not-going-to-take-it-anymore/

EDITOR: What is Uber? From Wikipedia

Uber is a ridesharing service headquartered in San Francisco, United States (U.S.), which operates in multiple international cities. The company uses a smartphone application to arrange rides between riders and drivers. Customers use the app to request rides and track their reserved vehicle’s location. As of August 29, 2014, the service was available in 45 countries and more than 200 cities worldwide, and was valued at US$18.2 billion.

Upon inception, Uber offered only full-size luxury cars for hire, and the “UberBlack” title was adopted for the company’s main service (named after the “black cars” private transportation services in New York City). In 2012, the company launched its “UberX” program, which expanded the service to any qualified driver with an acceptable vehicle. Due to a lack of regulation, Uber can offer lower fees, so the service has become extremely competitive with traditional taxi services, expanding Uber’s appeal to a broader cross-section of the market.

Uber is the subject of ongoing protests from taxi drivers, taxi companies and representative bodies who believe that ridesharing companies are illegal taxicab operations that engage in unfair business practices and compromise passenger safety. As of September 2014, protests had been staged in Germany, France, England, and other nations. Uber also continues to resolve issues with governmental bodies, including those of the U.S. and Australia.