Uber Is Said to Seek About $10 Billion in Year's Biggest IPO

Investors could get their first look at hundreds of pages of detailed information about Uber as soon as this week, according to Bloomberg.

The global ride-hailing company will kick off a road show to market shares to potential investors this month and would begin trading publicly in May, said people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified. Uber is seeking to raise about $10 billion, one of the people said. The offering is expected to be the largest U.S. IPO this year and among the 10 largest of all time.

While Uber has released partial financial results for years, its IPO filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will provide the first complete look at its numbers and operations. Prospective investors are hungry for the minutiae, and they’re now armed with ride-hailing rival Lyft’s March listing as a reference point for picking apart Uber’s business and value.

Uber said in February that it generated $50 billion in gross bookings last year, up about 45 percent from 2017. But the figures show slowing growth. Of the $11.4 billion of net revenue in 2018, only $3 billion came in the last three months of the year, up only 2 percent from the previous quarter. While that number gave the San Francisco-based company a year-over-year quarterly growth rate of 25 percent, high by most standards, it fell well short of the 38 percent rate for the third quarter.

Investors will want an explanation for Uber’s flattening trajectory, a possible signal that its core ride-hailing business may be stalling. They’ll also want to know where the money is coming from as the company expands into food and freight delivery and scooters and bicycles, as it also eyes driverless and even flying vehicles.

Uber was last valued at $76 billion on the private markets when Toyota invested in 2018. Last year, bankers jockeying to lead the offering told Uber it could be valued at as much as $120 billion in an IPO. Details on the number of shares to be offered and the intended price range likely won’t come until an later filing.