Lyft and Uber file for IPOs, one day apart

[kuhnertdm]

Sources:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/lyft-proceeds-with-ipo-plans-1544099168

https://venturebeat.com/2018/12/07/uber-confidentially-files-for-ipo-a-day-after-lyft/

 

Ride-sharing startup Lyft has filed for an IPO this past Thursday, and rival startup Uber has filed for one the very next day. An IPO (or "initial public offering"), is the action of taking a company public on the stock markets, widely opening up investment opportunities (and therefore revenue for the companies involved), but also holding the companies to stricter standards on revenue reporting, or other information that investors want to know.

 

Lyft is a younger company than Uber, and isn't as widespread. And that shows in the compared valuations of the companies:

 

Quote

In October, The Wall Street Journal reported that Lyft had picked underwriters for its offering. The firm’s valuation is expected to top the $15.1 billion it was valued at earlier this year.

 

Meanwhile, Uber, has received proposals from bankers that value it as high as $120 billion, the Journal reported. Companies often consider such proposals before hiring IPO underwriters.

 

However, Lyft seems to be making moves based on its lower levels of loss compared to Uber. They also may be riding on hopes that Uber's recent scandals will catch up to them:

 

Quote

Becoming a public company will bring a heightened level of investor scrutiny and exposure to Uber, which suffered a string of scandals when the company was led by co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick, who resigned last year.

 

The controversies included allegations of sexual harassment, obtaining the medical records of a woman raped by an Uber driver in India, a massive data breach, and federal investigations into issues including possibly paying bribes to officials and illicit software to evade regulators.

 

Uber and Lyft are joining project management tool startup Slack in intending to go public in early 2019. In addition, it's possible we may be seeing crowd-sourced accommodation startup Airbnb going public later in the year as well. We're getting to the point where all the startups that have been popping up in the last few years are now becoming successful enough to go public, and IMO this will be a good thing, as we're going to start seeing these companies held to stricter standards for how they manage their money, and how they treat their customers.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Let's hope Uber can get their shit together so they don't get bitchslapped by the markets

[Monkey Dust]

Hmm shares in companies who lose money faster than a bus load of gambling addicts in Vegas, I'll pass thanks. They're pinning their hopes on entirely autonomous cars, which are probably 15-20 years away at least, even further away in cities prone to snowfall. And when autonomous cars do arrive, Uber & Lyft will have have asses handed to them by a new company unconstrained by all that debt.

[Taf the Ghost]

VCs want their money before they all collapse.

[Chronified]

Uber has some deep stacks into drone delivery and flying taxi development, they'd be a smart investment imo

 

Those could really take off

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Let's hope Uber can get bitchslapped by the markets so they get their shit together

FTFY

[Guest]

Uber is pretty much the same as a Taxi at peak times, seeing as thats when I usually need one I just get a Taxi, with the things you hear on the news too, its probably safer. 

[Ja50n]

How do I short sell a stock? I want to get in on this opportunity...

[mr moose]

A $500M lawsuit must be immaterial to such a float for Uber. 

[Canada EH]

9 hours ago, Monkey Dust said:

Hmm shares in companies who lose money faster than a bus load of gambling addicts in Vegas

I was hoping you'd say Crypto-Currency mining, but a Vegas reference is so passe.

[rawrdaysgoby]

Maybe once we see some good # of autonomous cars on the road then the stock might be piping hot. As of now i don't know 

[Syntaxvgm]

On 12/8/2018 at 11:43 AM, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Let's hope Uber can get their shit together so they don't get bitchslapped by the markets

On 12/8/2018 at 1:12 PM, Sauron said:

On 12/8/2018 at 11:43 AM, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Let's hope Uber can get bitchslapped by the markets so they get their shit together

FTFY

On 12/8/2018 at 11:43 AM, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Let's hope Uber gets bitchslapped by the markets and dies.

FTFY

[MeghanGonzalez]

Yes both the ride-hailing companies filed the IPO process back to back. Uber IPO formalities took place after its smaller U.S. rival, Lyft announced to go public. Both the companies are making step closer to a achieve a key landmark in Silicon Valley.