Uber is in the run to tap investors
Uber Technologies Inc. filed confidential papers this week for its first public offer, according to people familiar with the case as it ran with less competitor Lyft Inc. to be the first to market.
Submission of Confidential Form S-1 puts Uber Neck and Neck with Lyft, with both scheduled stock listings that will be among the largest in a slate of deals targeted for 2019. Promised Thursday that it had archived its S-1 , and people who were familiar with the case said that it aims to debut in March or April.
Ubers filing indicates that it could become public as soon as in the first quarter, as The Wall Street Journal reported in October. It would be faster than many observers had expected. Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi has said he expected to find a debut in next year's second half.
Uber has doubled planning around its IPO "Project Liberty", according to one of the people familiar with its plans.
It may be a blunt reference to thousands of employees and investors who have waited years to sell their full stake in the company for a profit, said a person. Uber has had recent secondary sales, which allowed some investors and employees to sell part of their efforts.
Details of Uber's filing, including exactly when it was sent, was not immediately available. The company's bank advisors have suggested that the ri-hailing company could go public to a valuation of $ 1[ads1]20 billion, Journal has reported. The company's last private valuation was $ 76 billion, as it sold around $ 500 million in Toyota.
Based on the pipeline of potential 2019 IPOs, which includes data mining company Palantir Technologies Inc., Slack Technologies Inc. and Airbnb Inc., it may be a record year for market research in terms of increased dollar. It could be the top mark for high tide achieved in 2000, when technology companies raced to cash at high values at the height of the dot-com boom.
Uber and Lift, together with companies outside the United States such as China's Didi Chuxing Technology Co. and Singapore's Grab., has radically changed the way people get around in urban areas and have experienced traditional taxi companies. The companies have leveraged their core business to expand to other services, such as meal delivery and bicycle sharing.
But Uber, like Lift, is unprofitable. Third quarter losses were expanded to $ 1.07 billion, including a sales gain of 38% to $ 2.95 billion, and it has indicated in the latest bond documents that it does not expect to get out of the red for at least three years. Lift had a loss of $ 254 million on revenue of $ 563 million in the last quarter, Journal reported.
Lift has increased $ 5.1 billion so far, compared to around $ 20 billion for Uber. Both figures include debt financing. Uber has 20,000 employees worldwide, which is four times more than Lyft has.
For presentations to potential investors, Uber will probably emphasize the success of its side projects that prepare food delivery unit UberEats and trucking Shipping, people familiar with the case have said. It operates in around 70 countries worldwide, while Lift is only in the United States and Canada.
Uber had 69% of the US market, while Lyft had 28% from October, according to Second Measure, which tracks credit card expenses.
Mr. Khosrowshahi has put IPO planning ahead of his work in recent months. Among the latest appointments, the company's first CFO is for more than three years, a new manager and a senior manager.
Write to Greg Bensinger at greg.bensinger@wsj.com and Maureen Farrell at maureen.farrell@wsj.com
