Uber Technologies Inc. officially filed for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday afternoon, setting up one of the most anticipated Silicon Valley IPOs since Facebook Inc. FB, -0.17%
Uber did not list a targeted price for shares, putting in a placeholder target of $1 billion for total amount the San Francisco company seeks to raise. Reports this week stated that Uber expects to raise about $10 billion at a valuation of roughly $100 billion, but there is not enough information in the initial filing to support that information.
Uber, a ride-hailing service that uses a mobile app to connect prospective riders and drivers, is the most highly valued private company among a host of touted “unicorn” tech startups. It has collected a total of $13.6 billion in private investment, according to FactSet, and was valued at $76 billion in an August 2018 investment round, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Smaller U.S. ride-hailing rival Lyft Inc. LYFT, +1.48% went public late last month, raising more than $2 billion at a valuation of roughly $24 billion. Shares have dipped well lower than the $72-per-share IPO in the two weeks since, however, and closed Thursday at $61.01, giving Lyft a market capitalization of $17.4 billion, according to FactSet.
The Uber offering is being led by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, two of 29 banks listed as underwriters on the offering. The company expects to eventually list shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol UBER.
“Uber is a once-in-a-generation company, and the opportunity ahead of it is enormous,” Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi wrote in a letter included in the filing.
Khosrowshahi, previously the CEO of Expedia Group Inc. EXPE, +0.35% , took over the helm of Uber in Auguest 2017, after founder Travis Kalanick stepped down months earlier in reaction to months of controversy surrounding Uber and its business tactics. Khosrowshahi admitted “missteps along the way” to the IPO in his letter, but insisted that he has established a new structure.
“Over the last decade, as the needs and preferences of our customers have changed, we’ve changed too,” he wrote. “Now, we’re becoming something different once again: A public company.”
Like Lyft, Uber said it would offer drivers on its platform a one-time cash bonus, and reserve shares for drivers at the IPO price if they wish to buy them. Uber said it expected to pay out a total of $300 million to 1.1 million qualifying drivers, in amounts of $100, $500, $1,000 or $10,000, based on number of miles driven for the company.
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