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New Uber CEO Says Company Could Go Public in 18 Months

wsj.com

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Re: New Uber CEO Says Company Could Go Public in 18 Months

#11

Post by [deleted] »

fosk wrote: post #9
culturalzero wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. From the outside it does appear Travis go caught up in himself more than focusing on his real role.

Seems to me he was more focused on building and growing the business, while at the same time preventing existential long-term threats (although with hiccups along the way), than wasting time preparing for an IPO . Uber is still at risk to lose their current monopolistic world market share, everybody knows it (Travis too), and they need to work and fight hard 24/7 to retain it. IPO is a distraction.

[deleted]

Re: New Uber CEO Says Company Could Go Public in 18 Months

#12

Post by frgtpsswrdlame »

fosk wrote: post #9
culturalzero wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. From the outside it does appear Travis go caught up in himself more than focusing on his real role.

Seems to me he was more focused on building and growing the business, while at the same time preventing existential long-term threats (although with hiccups along the way), than wasting time preparing for an IPO . Uber is still at risk to lose their current monopolistic world market share, everybody knows it (Travis too), and they need to work and fight hard 24/7 to retain it. IPO is a distraction.

The problem is that Travis thinks it's still possible to defend their monopolistic market share but I'd bet (just personal opinion) that investors don't feel that way. Honestly, what could Uber do to ensure their monopolistic world market share would last? They want to IPO soon so they can get some return. Uber has had years and billions of dollars, I don't blame investors for wanting to push the bird out of the nest and see if it can really fly.

Re: New Uber CEO Says Company Could Go Public in 18 Months

#14

Post by tyingq »

Bretts89 wrote: post #13

It's about time their investors get a massive liquidity event. I tend to think the lack of an near term exit strategy was one of many reasons Travis got the boot.

18 months isn't much time to present financials that would support a high IPO price though, is it?

I assume the current financials still show pretty big losses due to the subsidized pricing.

Re: New Uber CEO Says Company Could Go Public in 18 Months

#15

Post by uberemployee »

Guys this is somewhat fake news. The question was what his thoughts were on IPO. He basically said it's up to the board, but 18 to 36 months seemed reasonable. It wasn't like he's actually planning on IPOing in 18 months, it was an off-the-cuff response and gave a ballpark figure. That's all, don't read too much into it he hasn't even officially started yet.

Re: New Uber CEO Says Company Could Go Public in 18 Months

#16

Post by thematt »

bhouston wrote: post #8
ProAm wrote: post #7

IPO would really just be a way to cash out investors with no real return on the horizon for the new shareholders? Speaking from their current burn rate, lawsuit, potential new technology/driverless cars.

At much as you may hate Uber it is an unstoppable juggernaut. Being profitable is not impossible and settling everything is just a question of money, and fairly small sums at that. It may not be worth $100B, but it is going to be worth a ton.

It's far from unstoppable. They might have market share in the US because of their first mover advantage, but they ceded to Didi in China and to Yandex in Russia.

Re: New Uber CEO Says Company Could Go Public in 18 Months

#17

Post by ProAm »

bhouston wrote: post #8
ProAm wrote: post #7

IPO would really just be a way to cash out investors with no real return on the horizon for the new shareholders? Speaking from their current burn rate, lawsuit, potential new technology/driverless cars.

At much as you may hate Uber it is an unstoppable juggernaut. Being profitable is not impossible and settling everything is just a question of money, and fairly small sums at that. It may not be worth $100B, but it is going to be worth a ton.

Is that true though? They are still subsidizing 60% of the cost on all rides no? Eventually there will be a reckoning and will really determine if this is a viable company.

Re: New Uber CEO Says Company Could Go Public in 18 Months

#19

Post by fosk »

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #12
fosk wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems to me he was more focused on building and growing the business, while at the same time preventing existential long-term threats (although with hiccups along the way), than wasting time preparing for an IPO . Uber is still at risk to lose their current monopolistic world market share, everybody knows it (Travis too), and they need to work and fight hard 24/7 to retain it. IPO is a distraction.

The problem is that Travis thinks it's still possible to defend their monopolistic market share but I'd bet (just personal opinion) that investors don't feel that way. Honestly, what could Uber do to ensure their monopolistic world market share would last? They want to IPO soon so they can get some return. Uber has had years and billions of dollars, I don't blame investors for wanting to push the bird out of the nest…

Of course Travis still thinks that, he is the founder. He cares about the long term survival of Uber, not about an exit event. Uber is in a complicated industry, in complicated times with very aggressive competitors. It just takes time, but somebody is unwilling to wait anymore.

The bird cannot fly, we already know that. They are crashing Uber against a wall and they just don't care. Do you know what's going to be the next word coming out of the new CEO? It's going to be "layoff". Whatever it takes to fix the books. And then what?

Then maybe Travis comes back to right the ship if it's not too late.

Re: New Uber CEO Says Company Could Go Public in 18 Months

#20

Post by Animats »

askafriend wrote: post #5

I'm going to re-post one of my previous comments on this topic because I think it's relevant: "In my opinion, all they need is someone who is demonstrably competent and experienced to stabilize the ship and steer it towards an IPO. There's no need for the candidate to be a visionary or meddle drastically with something that's already working extraordinarily well. That part is largely done - the Uber machine is mature…

An IPO will involve a big haircut for current investors, especially the late-stage ones. Uber is way overvalued.

Looking forward to seeing a prospectus with audited GAAP numbers.

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