Cycling: Armstrong: Uber-Invest “Saved My Family”

Former cycling star Lance Armstrong has saved his family from bankruptcy, mainly thanks to an early investment in Uber, a transport broker.

He had already put $100,000 in risk capital into his up-and-coming taxi competitors in 2010, the deeply fallen American told CNBC television, adding: “That saved my family.” The 47-year-old has five children.

Armstrong did not say exactly how much money he made with the investment. But the success was “too good to be true”. About was founded in 2009, at the time of his investment the company is said to have been worth 3.7 million dollars. Today it is estimated at up to 120 billion dollars. When asked whether he had “earned 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 million,” he replied, “One of them.” Nevertheless, the bottom line was that he “didn’t get off scot-free”, Armstrong said.

Armstrong had agreed to a payment of five million dollars in April in a damages suit. In the event of a defeat, he would have been threatened with losses of around 96 million dollars in a dispute with the US government and his former team mate Floyd Landis. This would have threatened the financial existence of the Texan, who had been suspended for life for doping, after he had had to pay ten million dollars in damages to the insurance company SCA Promotions, among others.

Armstrong had been denied all seven Tour de France titles between 1999 and 2005 because of his misdeeds.