Ride-hailing taxi firm Uber has set the sale price for its shares which are due to list on the New York Stock Exchange tomorrow, in what is expected to be one of the biggest share floats of the year.
Uber's app allows users to call for a driver and pay via saved credit card details, at rates dictated by on-the-moment demand. Photo: 123RF
The firm has priced its shares at $US45 ($NZ68) each, and values Uber at $US82 billion ($NZ124b), about 40 percent of the value of the New Zealand economy.
The issue price is near the bottom of the indicative price range and suggests investors are cautious, especially after the share price of its rival, Lyft, has fallen by as much as a third since it floated in March.
Rival Lyft's flotation was priced at $72 per share when it listed in March, but its share price has fallen by as much as a third since then.
Uber is keen to avoid a similar fate, but the firm has so far failed to make a profit and has warned that it might never do so.
Continuous losses
Uber, which started in 2009, was most recently valued at $76b in the private market. It had been seeking a valuation as high as $120b.
As well as the original "ride-hailing" business, Uber is developing driverless cars and has a food delivery operation, Uber Eats.
In 2018, the company saw a 24 percent increase in revenue and a 37 percent rise in gross bookings, but its loss hit $1.8bn.
In the first three months of 2019, Uber drivers made 1.5 billion journeys, but the firm reported a net loss of about $1bn.
Lyft is also yet to make a profit - it reported widening losses of $911m last year, compared with $688m in 2017, despite revenues rising to $2.1b.
- BBC
