SAN FRANCISCO — Uber has done the thing that only a company with a very large number of drivers and a very small number of excuses can do: it has gone to Europe to sell bonds.

The ride-hailing giant hired banks to hold calls with investors this week for a debut five-part euro bond sale, the latest American tech firm to raise money on the continent, which is to say the latest American tech firm to go ask the people who have always had money for more money. The bonds will come in five parts, which is the financial world’s term for “we could not figure out a way to make this one part.”

The move is, by the company’s own account, part of a “massive expansion across Europe,” a phrase that in corporate English means “we are spending a great deal and would like to spend a great deal more, but from a different currency.” The expansion is understood to include a bridge loan tied to a takeover bid, which is the sort of thing that, in the old days, was called a “lot” and now is called a “structure.”

"The bonds will come in five parts, which is the financial world's term for 'we could not figure out a way to make this one part.'"

Market analysts, who are paid to be cautious, have been cautiously enthusiastic, describing the offering as “a strong signal of confidence,” which is the phrase the industry uses when it means “we think this is fine, probably, and we have a spreadsheet.” The company’s stock, for its part, has been “gaining focus,” which is the stock-market word for “people are looking at it, and looking is, in this economy, a form of support.”

THE EURO BOND, EXPLAINED FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T SOLD ONE

  • A bond: A piece of paper that says "I owe you money, but in euros, and over many years."
  • A euro bond: The same thing, but in a currency that has a name and a very good café scene.
  • Five parts: The company's way of saying "we will owe you a little, a lot, and everything in between."
  • The investors: The people who read the five parts and say "yes," which is, in banking, the whole job.

Skeptics — that is, the rest of the population — have noted that Uber has, in recent months, also been cutting jobs, a move that a company spokesperson described as “right-sizing the team,” which is the human-resources word for “doing the opposite of the expansion, but in a different department.” The two facts, taken together, have been described by one economist as “a very good lesson in what a balance sheet is for,” and by another as “I’m not sure either, but the bond will be in euros, so it’s fine.”

At press time, Uber confirmed that the investor meetings were “well attended,” which is the only metric the company has ever disclosed, and that the first tranche would be priced “this week,” which in bond markets is the phrase that means “today, or possibly tomorrow, but the euro is doing its thing.”