Microsoft said to invest about $100 million in Uber

The deal values Uber at $50 billion, against $40 billion earlier this year

Microsoft has agreed to invest about $100 million in Uber Technologies, at a valuation of about $50 billion, said a person with knowledge of the matter said. The deal was finalised on Friday, the person added.

Uber, valued at $40 billion when it raised funds earlier this year, is benefiting from investors who view its car-booking technology as the future of transport. The San Francisco-based company, led by Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick, is using the cash to expand operations to cities across the globe.

"We filed to authorise this new funding more than two months ago," said Kristin Carvell, an Uber spokeswoman. "The filing is available to the public. We aren't commenting on additional speculation."

Tony Imperati, a spokesman for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, declined to comment.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported Uber closed a $1-billion financing round at a valuation of about $51 billion, and that Microsoft participated in the deal.

Last month, Microsoft sold a portion of its Bing mapping unit to Uber, which offered positions to about 100 Microsoft employees working on image acquisition and data analysis as part of the mapping team for Bing, Microsoft's web-search engine.

Uber expansion
The two companies have also combined to integrate Uber into Microsoft's Cortana voice-controlled assistant so that it can hail an Uber ride for users, as a scheduled meeting on their calendar approaches. An investment, if it happened, would be recognition that the two companies have worked together in the past and plan to remain partners in the future, the person said.

Founded in 2009 by Kalanick and Garrett Camp, Uber has expanded to more than 300 cities in at least 57 countries. The service has disrupted established taxi and limousine companies, which have often responded with protests. Uber has also upset regulators, who have sued or banned the company from California to Brazil.