05/13/19

UBER Surge Pricing

Hail, Uber! Uber went public last week with great fanfare befitting the third largest Initial Public Offering in US history. Hoorah, Uber! All hail Uber!

Then, they ran into reality and reality drowned them with surge pricing.

Uber came public at the low end of the proposed range (already a huge disappointment when compared to the investment bank courtship days) and promptly fell, making it the largest first day IPO loser in US history. Hello, America.

In fairness to Uber, the markets have been reeling with the US-China trade treaty negotiation news and the imposition of tariffs and retaliatory tariffs. [Trump’s fault?]

Lyft — a competitor — was also tanking adding to the cloud over the market and the IPO world.

Nonetheless, Uber has some problems.

Uber shares.

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10/19/18

Uber Uber Uber alles

The hype has begun on the Uber 2019 IPO – initial public offering of stock.

A Wall Street Journal article suggests that underwriters are whispering that the number is $120B – $120,000,000,000.

Of course, this is what’s called the “courtship” proposal — guys (the usual suspects Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs) looking for the assignment telling the prospective client what they want to hear to get the job; still it is a huge number.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has said the company is aiming for an IPO in the second half of 2019.

New CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, likes the big number and says, “Bring it.”

Why does this trouble you, Big Red Car, you ask? Let me tell you.

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