E-taxi giant Uber IPO has finally arrived. Its trade in the NYSE was launched sometime today at $42.
It has been reported that this is the largest public offering in the tech industry after Facebook and Ali Baba’s IPOs, having raked in an $82.4 billion IPO valuation. Yesterday’s projections priced its shares at $45 apiece, which dropped to $42 after the filing went live. So far, the IPO has raised $8.2 billion, which is below initial estimates.
For months, this development has made rounds in news outlets. Uber has also been under a series of managerial issues that saw its founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick resign back in June 2017. His departure was fueled by an explosive blog published by one of its former engineers that cited a toxic work environment and sexual harassment allegations. Furthermore, Uber has battled legal issues in Europe, among other setbacks in several markets.
https://twitter.com/mims/status/1126836909240659968?s=19
Kalanick’s successor Dara Khosrowshahi has done a good job stabilizing the corporation as marked by the IPO announcement. However, Uber has not addressed issues raised by driver partners across its markets, which are primarily centred on pay. Time to time, driver partners lower their tools, or threaten to do so amid complaints. It has also been noted that the major issue for all Uber driver partners is that they are hardly considered employees, hence are not owed fair returns and benefits. They are more of private contractors on a ‘gig’ model, which is probably why their issues have never been addressed regardless of the strikes they stage or an attempted union scenario.
Back to the IPO. The opening of Uber shares at $42 has been termed disappointing. The underwhelming performance matches its rival Lyft, whose shares traded below the estimated value during its March listing in the NYSE.
What investors first paid for @Uber (IPO at $45, opened at $42)
$0.009, @firstround/@robhayes, @lowercase/@sacca
$.09, @benchmark/@bgurley
$0.35, @menloventures/@shervin, @GoldmanSachs/Gary Cohn
$4.45, @GVteam/@kraneland
$15.51, @fidelity/@blackrock/Wellington#UberIPO— Rolfe Winkler (@RolfeWinkler) May 10, 2019
So far, Uber has traded 33 million shares. At the mentioned opening price, its market valuation dropped to $70.4 billion.
