Cab hailing giant Uber has filed paperwork for its initial public offering (IPO), The Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter, just a day after San Francisco-based on-demand transportation company Lyft’s IPO plans were also reported by media.
Uber’s filing comes just one day after its biggest rival Lyft also deposited paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an IPO.
“The S-1 filing with the SEC puts Uber neck-and-neck with Lyft. Both planned IPOs are shaping up to be among the biggest in a spate of offerings aimed for 2019. Lyft said it had filed its S-1, and people familiar with the matter have said it is aiming to debut in March or April,” the report said.
However, the details of Uber’s filing, including the exact day of filing the paperwork aren’t known. According to reports, the company’s most recent private valuation was $76 billion, when it sold a roughly $500 million stake to car maker Toyota.
Uber’s much-celebrated CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had previously said he expected the company to go public by the middle of next year, but looks like Uber wants to get their early, especially as it plans massive projects such as mass air transit and self-driving cars that would indeed need more faith from the public than its ride-hailing service.
Lyft said it hasn’t yet determined how many shares will be offered or what the price range will be. The IPO is expected to begin after the SEC reviews the plan. The company was valued at $15 billion in a private fundraising round, could go public as early as the first quarter of next year. Lyft is only believed to have submitted an ‘early-stage documentation’ for its IPO, and as such, specified neither the number of shares it was selling nor the price range.
With inputs from IANS
