6 U.S. Politicians Bought Uber This Year Without Selling, Trump and Pelosi Bet a Total of $6 Million
Trump and Pelosi bought call options for Uber worth up to $5 million and $1 million respectively in May 2026, with a strike price of $50 and an expiration date in March 2027.
Additionally, four bipartisan lawmakers (John Hickenlooper, John Boozman, Alan Armstrong, Dan Newhouse) bought Uber stock this year without selling, indicating cross-party consensus. Uber's lobbying expenditure in Q2 2026 was $1.23 million, coinciding with Pelosi's purchase time.
Funds are shifting from tech stocks to ride-hailing platforms, with Uber's current stock price around $70, down 31% from the May peak of $101.99. Institutions are betting on the commercialization of autonomous driving and robot taxis, with autonomous driving revenue growing 140% year-on-year in Q2 2026.
Uber's lobbying focuses include the "no-tax tip" bill and autonomous driving regulatory framework, with federal lobbying expenditures of $3.4 million in 2025 and $2.7 million in 2024.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Historical Behavior
The investments by Pelosi and Trump in Uber are not their first overlap. In 2023, both bought Tesla and Nvidia simultaneously, and in 2024, they re-invested in Amazon and Google. Pelosi is expected to profit over $100 million through stock options in 2025 (mainly holding Nvidia, Tesla, Microsoft), while Trump disclosed stock earnings of $50 million to $100 million in 2025 (mainly holding Tesla, Uber, Boeing). Their investment styles differ significantly: Pelosi prefers long-term call options (6-18 months to expiration), while Trump favors short-term options (1-6 months to expiration) and direct stock holdings.
Capital Pathway
Uber's capital allocation pathway is clear: shifting from "money-burning expansion" to "profit-first". It is expected to achieve its first full-year profit in 2025 (net profit of $1.9 billion), with a net profit of $520 million in Q2 2026, an 85% year-on-year increase. Funds are shifting from "subsidizing drivers and passengers" to "autonomous driving R&D and buybacks"—with $1.5 billion in stock buybacks and $800 million in R&D spending in Q2 2026 (of which $400 million is for autonomous driving). The timing of the politicians' purchases (May) coincided with Uber's Q1 earnings report exceeding expectations (revenue of $11.5 billion, up 22% year-on-year), indicating an "information advantage".
Analogy + Industry Position
Similar case: In 2020, Pelosi bought Tesla call options (strike price $400, expiration June 2021), profiting over $100 million. The current Uber position is similar—strike price $50, current price $70, expiration March 2027, with potential returns of over 40%. The industry position is at the "profit inflection point for ride-hailing platforms"—compared to Lyft (first profit in 2025, market value of $8 billion) and DoorDash (profit in 2024, market value of $45 billion), Uber's market value is $143 billion, but its price-to-earnings ratio is only 25 times, lower than DoorDash's 45 times.
Structural Judgment
This essentially reflects the information asymmetry caused by capital concentration. Politicians are required to disclose trades under the STOCK Act, but disclosures are delayed by 45 days, allowing "trade first, disclose later". Pelosi bought on May 29 and disclosed in mid-July; Trump bought on May 13 and disclosed at the end of June. This explains why retail investors' "following politicians' trading" strategy yielded a 45% return in 2025 (compared to only 12% for the S&P 500)—it is not insider trading, but rather an "information processing advantage". Uber's lobbying expenditures coinciding with the politicians' purchase times reflect "policy risk pricing"—when Uber lobbied for the "no-tax tip" bill, politicians bought in advance, and the stock price rose after the bill was passed.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
Delayed information disclosure is a legal arbitrage space
Lobbying expenditure is a pricing mechanism for policy risk
Bipartisan consensus is more reliable than single bets