LDN - Sports

Cycling: Armstrong says Uber investment saved his family - report

[December 07, 2018] (Reuters) - Former cycling champion Lance Armstrong, whose fall from grace cost him millions of dollars in lawsuits and endorsements, said his investment in Uber Technologies Inc.[UBER.UL] had saved his family, according to a CNBC report on Thursday.

Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life from the sport for doping, gave $100,000 to a venture capital fund that invested in the ride-hailing company around 2009, the report said.

"It's saved our family," Armstrong told CNBC in an interview that aired on Thursday.

Armstrong said in the interview he was not aware that he was investing in Uber, which at the time was worth $3.7 million, when he gave money to venture capitalist Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital.

Uber, which is preparing to go public next year, could be valued at $120 billion according to proposals made by U.S. banks bidding to run the offering.

Armstrong did not disclose how much his investment in Uber is currently worth, saying "it's a lot more" and "it's too good to be true".

When asked by the interviewer if he had made "10, 20, 30, 40 or $50 million", Armstrong replied: "It's one of those. It's a lot, it's a lot."

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Cyclist Lance Armstrong of the U.S. speaks to journalists as he leaves his bus before taking part in Geoff Thomas's 'One Day Ahead' charity event during a stage of the 102nd Tour de France cycling race from Muret to Rodez, France, July 16, 2015. REUTERS/Fred Lancelot

Armstrong won the Tour de France a record seven times but was stripped of his titles and banned for life in 2012 by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency after it accused him of engineering one of the most sophisticated doping schemes in sports.

The American later admitted to the cheating in a January 2013 televised interview with Oprah Winfrey.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Nick Mulvenney)

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