Ending months of speculation and anticipation in equal measure, Lyft has now officially announced the launch of its IPO. The company has launched the customary roadshow for the initial public offering of its Class A common stock. The company is expecting to raise $2.1 Billion from this IPO.
As a part of its IPO, Lyft is offering 30,770,000 shares of its Class A common stock, plus up to an additional 4,615,500 shares that the underwriters have the option to purchase. As predicted earlier, the IPO is expected to be priced between $62.00 and $68.00 per share. The shares are expected to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “LYFT.”
The projected valuation post this IPO however, is much lesser than what most had estimated. While the IPO will value the company at $18.5 Billion, industry estimates had pegged it earlier to $23 Billion. Nevertheless, the valuation is pretty much acceptable, since its almost a 20% jump than the company’s last $15.1 Bn fund-raising valuation.
Lyft’s IPO comes at an extremely crucial juncture. Largely because investor and enthusiasts are both looking at what is up next for the certainly over-valued ride-hailing companies, globally. Lyft’s staunchest rival Uber, is already valued at close to $100 Billion and is looking for an IPO. If and when the IPO happens, it could well break all records for one of the biggest in the history.
For Lyft, the IPO comes at a good time. It has seen a sharp increase in rides and overall revenues from bookings. According to last available data, the company made almost $8.1 billion in bookings. From that, it made $2.1 billion in revenues in 2018. Over 30 million riders and clsoe to 2 million drivers became a part of that journey. With all that though, the company still reported a net loss of $931 million.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Jefferies LLC, UBS Securities LLC, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, RBC Capital Markets, LLC and KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. will act as book-running managers for the offering. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus.
