Ari Emanuel Confronts the Taxi Cartel in Chicago: Ari Emanuel’s stake in ride-share firm raises uber questions

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Google “Ari Emanuel” and “uber,” and you’ll find frequent references to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s brother as the “Hollywood uber-agent” for many of the world’s most popular entertainers.

What’s far less known is Ari Emanuel’s ownership interest in Uber Technologies Inc.

Uber is the fast-growing technology company locked in a high-stakes dispute in places across the country, including Chicago. Critics here say the Emanuel administration favors Uber and similar companies offering ride-sharing phone apps, at the expense of century-old taxi and car-service industries.

Although the mayor insists he’s being scrupulously fair to all, the taxi companies say Uber will put them out of business unless City Hall regulates the up-and-comers as stringently as they watch regular old cabbies.

Either way, we now know which side at least one of the famously combative Emanuel brothers has taken.

Christian Muirhead, a spokesman for Ari Emanuel’s William Morris Endeavor agency, confirmed Tuesday that the agency continues to hold a stake in Uber. In a phone call from the agency’s offices in Beverly Hills, Muirhead said he couldn’t provide the exact size of the investment.

Rent-seeker Ari Emanuel goes up against the massive rent-seekers, the Chicago taxi cartel. Can Ari Emanuel defeat the taxi cartel's main man: Alderman Ed Burke ? Ari's brother might be Mayor, but Alderman Burke's wife is on the Illinois Supreme Court for "messy" disputes that rake up big legal bills.