The UAE’s biggest telecom company, e&, has sold part of its stake in Careem back to Uber. Here’s what happened, why it makes sense, and why 2032 is the date everyone should be watching.

If you’ve ever ordered lunch through Careem or used it to book a ride across Dubai (I am sure that counts for 99% of the people reading this article), you’ve interacted with one of the region’s most ambitious tech bets. And this week, that bet got reshuffled in a pretty interesting way. Emirates Telecommunications Group, the company most of us know as e&, has agreed to sell a 12.5 percent slice of Careem Technologies to Uber for $100 million in cash. That drops e&’s ownership from just over 50 percent down to about 37.5 percent, handing Uber back the majority seat at the table.

So, what’s actually going on here? Let’s rewind a bit.

How we got here

Uber bought Careem back in 2019 for $3.1 billion, one of the biggest tech deals the Middle East had ever seen. But rather than folding everything into one company, Uber eventually split Careem in two: the ride-hailing side stayed under Uber’s full ownership, while everything else food, grocery delivery, payments, the whole super-app vision was bundled into a separate company called Careem Technologies. Then in December 2023, e& came in and bought a majority 50 percent stake in that technologies arm for $400 million. The thinking was sound: why not own the telecom pipes and some of the biggest apps running through them? It felt like a natural fit for a company that was trying to evolve beyond just mobile plans and broadband.

Fast forward to today, and the situation has shifted a little.

Careem has actually been doing really well

Here’s something worth noting before anyone assumes e& is selling because things went south: it hasn’t. Careem Technologies has had a strong couple of years. Gross transaction value across its core services grew nearly five times over, with its food delivery, and Plus subscription offerings all picking up steam. The company gained market share in the UAE and kept building out its identity as a one-stop lifestyle platform. So, e& isn’t walking away from a struggling asset. It’s trimming its position in a growing one, taking $100 million in cash while still holding onto a significant chunk of the upside. That’s actually a pretty disciplined move if you ask me.

Why e& is comfortable stepping back

Over the past couple of years, e& has been pretty clear about where it wants to focus its energy: core telecom, enterprise technology, fintech, and digital infrastructure. Running a super-app as a majority owner is a different kind of business, and it’s one that pulls in a different direction. By selling down its stake, e& simplifies its portfolio, locks in a solid return on part of its original $400 million investment, and hands Careem back to a partner that arguably has more direct experience in scaling this type of platform globally.

“Our partial stake sale to Uber will allow Careem Technologies to benefit from Uber’s global technology experience and platform synergies, and position itself for the next phase of growth,” e& said. It added that the deal reflects its sharper focus on core operations while making clear it’s not walking away from Careem altogether. At 37.5 percent, e& remains one of the most significant shareholders in the business and contrary what others may say, it’s stepping back from the driver’s seat, not getting out of the car.

What this means for Uber

For Uber, regaining majority control of Careem Technologies is a homecoming of sorts. The platform grew out of Uber’s own acquisition, and Uber never really lost sight of what it could become. Now, with a controlling stake back in hand, Uber can align Careem’s technology roadmap more closely with its own global infrastructure and product thinking.

Careem’s founder and CEO Mudassir Sheikha put it well: “While e& will remain a meaningful shareholder and close strategic partner, this move brings Careem and Uber back into a closer, deeply familiar alignment.” For people using the app day-to-day, this probably won’t feel like much changes overnight. But access to Uber’s engineering resources, global partnerships, and platform technology could accelerate things like payments, delivery speeds, and new service areas in ways that might start to show up fairly soon.

The 2032 clause everyone should know about

Here’s the part of the deal that doesn’t make many headlines but is arguably the most important detail: buried in the agreement is a set of options that kick in at the end of the decade. e& has the right to require Uber to buy its remaining shares in Careem Technologies and Uber has the equivalent right to require e& to sell. Both options can be exercised between December 2031 and January 2032.

What that means in practice: this $100 million deal is likely just the first move in a longer play. By early 2032, it’s entirely possible (some might say probable) that Uber will own Careem Technologies outright. Think of this Monday’s announcement not as an ending, but as the first installment of something bigger.

The bigger picture

e&’s decision to step back from majority ownership raises a question that’s worth sitting with: should telecom companies be running super-apps at all?

When e& bought in several years ago, it felt like a smart convergence play: owning the network and the apps people use on it every day. But as both industries have matured, it’s become clearer that managing a consumer super-app requires a very different kind of attention, investment, and organizational focus than running a telecom group.

This deal doesn’t say the experiment failed. It says e& has figured out where it adds the most value and that running a lifestyle app at a majority stake level isn’t quite it. Staying in as a minority partner while letting Uber take the operational lead? That’s not a retreat at all; that’s a good portfolio management that would put even BlackRock to shame. 

Watch this space.

Eduard P. Nedelcu, ESQ