Uber Unveils Long-Awaited IPO, Expected To Reach $100 Billion Valuation

Uber released its S-1 filing after the market close, placing in on track to go public with its anticipated May IPO.

The company is expected to attract a valuation between $90-100 billion, although CNBC previously said that the company was seeking as much as $120 billion, by selling roughly $10 billion in stock. The shares are expected to price later this month.

Uber will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "UBER," the company said in a filing released publicly on Thursday.

Uber disclosed unaudited financials in the filing. The company reported $11.3 billion in revenue in 2018, up 42 percent y/y. Uber reported a net income of nearly $1 billion in 2018, but the loss from operations exceeded $3 billion and the adjusted EBITDA loss was $1.9 billion.

It appears that the company will provide metrics like MAPCs (monthly active platform consumers – which is the number of consumers who completed a ride using Ridesharing or New Mobility or received an Uber Eats meal at least once in a given month). MAPCs increased 35 percent y/y in 4Q/18. The company will also disclose trips and gross bookings (both up 37 percent y/y). Uber Eats represented 18 percent of gross bookings for Q4 2018.

Uber Freight rolls up into the company's Other Bets division. Uber Freight was launched in 2017 and generates revenue as shippers pay a pre-determined fee for each shipment to use Uber's brokerage service. From the filing, "Uber Freight greatly reduces friction in the logistics industry by providing an on-demand platform to automate and accelerate logistics transactions end-to-end. Uber Freight connects carriers with the most appropriate shipments available on our platform, and gives carriers upfront, transparent pricing and the ability to book a shipment with the touch of a button."

Uber Freight launched officially in the U.S. in May 2017 and has contracted with over 36,000 carriers representing more than 400,000 drivers, serving over 1,000 shippers like Anheuser-Busch InBev BUD, Niagara, Land O'Lakes, and Colgate-Palmolive Company CL. The Uber Freight group posted revenue in excess of $125 million in 4Q/18. Uber Freight booked $359 million in gross bookings in 2018. The Q4 run-rate would place Uber Freight at roughly a $600 million freight broker. Last month, Uber Freight announced a rollout across Europe.
To put that in comparison, at $600 million in gross freight bookings, Uber Freight would be roughly the same size of BNSF logistics, the truckload freight brokerage division of the rail firm owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Impressive for being less than twenty-months old, but not big enough to be in the top ten of all freight brokers in the U.S.

Also to note, Uber only owns 89% of Uber Freight, according to the S-1 filing. The balance is likely owned by the team that made up the Otto, the self-driviing truck business that Uber acquired.

Today's filing comes a nearly two weeks after ridesharing competitor, Lyft, hit the market. That stock opened at $72 and closed at $61.01 today following recent pressure attributed to the Uber filing.

Image sourced from Pixabay

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