Uber filed an updated S-1 today where it announced that it would be pricing its initial public offering at $44-50 per share. Selling 180,000,000 common shares, it plans to raise between $7.9 billion and $9 billion ahead of its public debut on the NYSE, valuing it at $84 billion — squarely in the middle of the $80-90 billion that was projected as late as yesterday.
Separately, there was a surprise announcement in the S-1: PayPal said it would make a $500 million investment in the company in a private placement, as part of an extension of the partnership between the two, whether they will develop new digital wallet services. PayPal has been working with Uber providing payment services since 2013 and is its lead processing partner in the US and Australia (but not the only one globally). The $500 million placement is being made at the same valuation as the IPO price range, Uber said.“In April 2019, we entered into a stock purchase agreement with PayPal, Inc. (“PayPal”), pursuant to which PayPal will purchase $500 million of our common stock from us in a private placement at a price per share equal to the initial public offering price,” Uber notes. “The sale of the shares in the private placement is subject to certain closing conditions, including the closing of this offering and certain regulatory approvals. Concurrently, and subject to the closing of the private placement, we and PayPal extended our global partnership through the execution of an addendum to our existing commercial agreement. We and PayPal intend to explore future commercial payment collaborations, including the development of our digital wallet.”“This is another significant milestone on our journey to be a platform partner of choice, helping to enable global commerce by connecting the world’s leading marketplaces and payment networks,” said PayPal president and CEO Dan Schulman in a statement. Uber’s pricing is more than three times the amount of Lyft’s $2.34 billion IPO, making it one of the largest IPOs in the U.S. since Alibaba’s debut on the public markets in 2014. In 2018, Uber reported 2018 revenues of $11.27 billion, net income of $997 million and adjusted EBITDA losses of $1.85 billion. Uber, which filed for its IPO two weeks ago, will list on the New York Stock Exchange in May. More to come.