It is easy to frame this deal as the vindication of Uber's business model. But it is not. Especially without knowing who approached whom for the money. It was reported that Uber was looking for loans during the same time:
The problem was finding the sensible purchase price. Buffett is an astute businessman who always looks to buy a dollar for the less than that. And in this case the price was:
Under the proposed agreement, Berkshire Hathaway would have provided a convertible loan to Uber that would have protected Buffett’s investment should Uber hit financial straits, while providing significant upside if Uber continued to grow in value, said the people, who spoke under condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.
Without knowing the inside of the deals it is difficult to comment but convertible loan normally turns to equity at next funding round. So, it dint matter if Uber's next round was a down round, Berkshire would have taken some equity in the company. Additionally, if things turned ugly or at the loan's maturity Berkshire's loan would have priority to claim the company's asset.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-09/uber-call...
And if Uber could get it from a known investor it was a big win for them. Buffett's name has it's weight, as posited by your question.
Now around the same time Berkshire had $116 billion in cash and Buffett wanted huge deals:
https://in.reuters.com/article/berkshire-buffett/with-116-bi...
The problem was finding the sensible purchase price. Buffett is an astute businessman who always looks to buy a dollar for the less than that. And in this case the price was:
Under the proposed agreement, Berkshire Hathaway would have provided a convertible loan to Uber that would have protected Buffett’s investment should Uber hit financial straits, while providing significant upside if Uber continued to grow in value, said the people, who spoke under condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.
Without knowing the inside of the deals it is difficult to comment but convertible loan normally turns to equity at next funding round. So, it dint matter if Uber's next round was a down round, Berkshire would have taken some equity in the company. Additionally, if things turned ugly or at the loan's maturity Berkshire's loan would have priority to claim the company's asset.