Uber aiming for stock market debut value of up to $ 90 b

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP): Uber is aiming to make its stock market debut at a share price that would value the leading ride-share startup between $ 80 billion and $ 90 billion, Bloomberg reported last week. 

Uber’s keenly-anticipated initial public offering of shares is expected next month, and Bloomberg cited unnamed sources as saying it is considering pricing shares between $ 44 and $ 50. 

The price set for the IPO will likely be influenced by interest expressed by potential investors when Uber pitches its promise on a “road show” that routinely precedes the event. 

The price range reported on Thursday would value the company at between $ 80 billion and $ 90 billion, less than a $ 100 billion Uber valuation that had been anticipated by some sources. 

Uber filed documents on 11 April for its much-anticipated public share offering, which is expected to be the largest in the tech sector in years and a bellwether for other venture-backed startups eying Wall Street listing. 

The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission contained no specific pricing or timing for the market debut for Uber, which according to media reports was expected to raise some $ 10 billion. 

The filing is also expected to include news of a roughly $ 500 million investment in Uber by PayPal Holdings Inc., the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. 

The mobile-payments company, which already helps the ride-hailing firm process fares, will invest in Uber through a private placement at the IPO price, it said. 

Uber offers ridesharing in some 700 cities but has bolder ambitions to reshape how people and goods are transported with operations such as meal deliveries, freight, and electric bikes and scooters.  Uber may have throttled back its IPO ambitions due to a lacklustre debut by US rival Lyft. 

Lyft shares were priced at $ 72 for the company’s IPO in March, but were $ 56.34 at the close of trading Thursday on the Nasdaq exchange.