Shares in the initial public offering of Uber Technologies (UBER) priced at $45, coming in near the low end of its expected range of $44 to $50 per share and raising $8.1 billion, reports said Thursday.
The closely watched Uber IPO offered 180 million shares and received a market valuation of $82.3 billion at the offering price. Uber stock will begin trading Friday morning on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker UBER. It is the largest technology IPO since Facebook (FB) in 2012.
The Uber IPO pricing stands in stark contrast to the Lyft (LYFT) IPO, where underwriters pushed the share price higher ahead of the offering. That added to heightened expectations that did not go well for the company.
The orders for shares in the Uber IPO was reportedly higher than the amount being allotted, which could have been used to justify an increase in the offering price. Research and advisory firm IPO Boutique on Thursday said, based on underwriter guidance, that the offering was “multiple-times oversubscribed.”
Underwriters most recently valued Uber at $76 billion in a private fundraising round in August, though estimates by investment bankers on Uber’s valuation at one point was reportedly above $100 billion.
Uber IPO Vs. Lyft
The cautious approach by investment bankers with the Uber IPO is in contrast to the Lyft IPO, where underwriters of the offering pushed for an aggressive valuation. Initially, the price range of shares for the Lyft IPO stood at $62 to $68. Underwriters later raised that to $70 to $72 each. The Lyft IPO raised about $2.34 billion, giving it a valuation near $22 billion at the time. That has since plunged to about $15.8 billion. Lyft stock has performed poorly since the IPO. It’s down about 30% from its closing price on the first day of trading, and has been a target of short sellers. The stock plunged 12% Wednesday in reaction to its first-quarter earnings report. Lyft stock closed at 55.18, up 4.3%, on the stock market today.
