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Uber Technologies Inc is aiming for a valuation of about $80 billion to $90 billion in its initial public offering (IPO), just above its last private funding round, according to people familiar with the matter.
The ride-hailing company is planning to start marketing shares to potential investors in a price range of about $44 to $50 each, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is not public. Uber could aim to raise about $8 billion to $10 billion in the listing, though the final details of the pricing may still change, the people said.
At the lower end of the range the price would value Uber just above its last private funding round, in which Toyota Motor Corporation invested at a valuation of about $76 billion. Uber is taking a conservative approach to its valuation and could later raise the price depending on investor demand, the people said. Last year, bankers jockeying to lead the offering told Uber it could be valued at as much as $120 billion in an IPO.
The IPO is reportedly drawing big-name investors. PayPal Holdings Inc will buy roughly $500 million of shares via a private placement at Ubers IPO price, media reports stated.
Some recent big listings by technology unicorns have seen valuations come back down to earth after years of access to huge pools of private capital.
Shares of Lyft Inc, which made its market debut in March at a $20.5 billion valuation, have since dropped 22 per cent to well below their IPO price. Ubers ride-hailing rival has a market value of $16.1 billion as of Thursday, much closer to its last private funding round at $15.1 billion.
Pinterest Inc, meanwhile, has seen its shares soar since it priced its April 17 IPO below the last private valuation of $12.3 billion. The stock closed 52 per cent above its trading debut Thursday at $28.80, valuing the digital image sharing company at $15.2 billion.
Road Show
Uber is expected to set the terms for its IPO as soon as Friday before heading out on a road show to market the stock to potential investors, the people said. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are leading the offering.
An $8 billion offering would be more than three times ride-hailing competitor Lyfts $2.34 billion IPO, the worlds biggest listing so far this year. It would rank Uber’s IPO as the ninth largest on a US exchange and the biggest since Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s record $25 billion listing in 2014.
Uber is one of a swarm of tech-related companies that have gone public this year or are considering it. Alongside Pinterest, Zoom Video Communications Inc made its trading debut this month. Other high-profile start-ups looking to go public include Slack Technologies Inc, Postmates Inc, Palantir Technologies Inc, and Airbnb Inc.
In its initial IPO filing, Uber revealed an operating loss of $3 billion in 2018, bringing its total operating losses over the past three years to more than $10 billion. The San Francisco-based company is planning to pitch itself to possible investors as a global transportation platform, people familiar with the matter have said, building -- and then supplying -- new demand for everything from scooters and bicycles to freight and food delivery.
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