Uber began trading on the New York Stock Exchange at $45 a share Friday as the price of entry to take the Uber initial public offering (IPO) for a ride in what has been one of the most-eagerly anticipated IPOs thus far this year.
The $45 per share price revealed that the ridesharing company will be valued on a non-diluted basis of about $75.46 billion.
“Uber is a great reminder to venture capitalists that the biggest opportunities lie in our most common needs as humans,” said Shawn Carolan, an early Uber investor and partner at Menlo Ventures. “When a startup presents, look beyond the current product, which often feels trivial, to the underlying need being served. An on-demand black car service was easy to dismiss, but nearly everyone needs transportation.”
Uber’s valuation, which was duly disclosed in a regulatory filing, came in at less than the $120 billion that investment bankers valued the company at last year. Final valuation numbers were more in line with the $76 billion valuation obtained during a round of private fundraising in 2018.
The lower value comes after its competitor Lyft and other IPO peers have investors wary of their ability churn a profit as a public company.
Pinterest lost $63 million in 2018, which almost seems miniscule next to the over $900 million loss that Lyft revealed prior to debuting its IPO. Uber has been losing more than $800 million a quarter ahead of its IPO debut.
Warren Buffett Not Looking to Ride
One investor who won’t take the ridesharing company’s IPO for a ride is market maven and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett.
“In 54 years, I don’t think Berkshire has ever bought a new issue,” Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick.
“The idea of saying the best place in the world I could put my money is something where all the selling incentives are there, commissions are higher, the animal spirits are rising, that that’s going to better than 1,000 other things I could buy where there is no similar enthusiasm … just doesn’t make any sense,” he added. “I’m not saying that what we’re buying is going to work out better, but there have to always be better things than one single issue.”
Uber hopes to come out of the starting gates better than competitor Lyft. After debuting with an opening price of $72, Lyft struggled with analyst downgrades early on in its publicly-traded existence.
However, Uber could suffer the same fate as both share similar core business models.
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