Live data from Hacker News

Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

wsj.com

111–120 of 139 posts

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#111
post #14

I am calling a market top here with the recent flurry of plans to IPO. Market has been shaky recently and I wonder if investors/founders are trying to get out ahead of a complete meltdown.

Yeah everyone thinks it is a bubble. Investment in anything other than stocks gives you pretty much no return at the moment so everyone is pouring their money into the stock market, possibly resulting in crazy valuations.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#112
post #110
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, they have been talking of a 2019 IPO since more then a year ago.

Whatever the case, the exit-ramps are there at every stage and every moment until you do it. To play this as some kind of rolling ball that couldn't be stopped strains logic and seems basically counterfactual.

I disagree. I think the tension between getting your house in order enough to open your books to the public market and critically important employees waiting around for their stock-based compensation to trigger puts you between a rock and a hard place.

For Uber, it's do-or-die in 2019.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#113

For those saying this IPO is happening now due to market slowdown, Uber's CEO has been speaking of a 2019 IPO for a while[1]. I am not an investment banker, to me this seems far more pre-planned than a last minute rush before a heavy correction, no? For those who do know the space well, how far ahead would one be able to plan to time this right to happen to coincide with the current trends in the market? [1] https://…

>For those who do know the space well, how far ahead would one be able to plan to time this right to happen to coincide with the current trends in the market? Planning to avoid a recession is impossible, so I guess a few days? Financial news is primarily written to generate clicks, and nothing does that better than fear. Remember that. These conspiracy theories that they have some inside knowledge about a correction…

Don't they have different valuations because Lyft is a pure player while Uber has multiple product lines?

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They rushed the IPO date from 2020 to 2019. That should definitely make you think.

No they didn't. Ever since the new CEO joined, he said 2019.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-ceo-idUSKCN1BA0JL

> "His plans include rebuilding Uber’s culture and growing market share as well as possibly conducting an initial public offering in 18 to 36 months, according to people who attended the meeting. It is common for venture capital-backed companies to signal an IPO at a vague time in the future."

That Uber has chosen to go towards an earlier IPO rather than later from the upper end of 36 months to the lower end of 18 months is a fact. You can definitely argue that choosing to IPO earlier isn't necessarily a negative thing, but you can't argue away the fact that Uber has chosen an earlier timeline over a later one. Dara has never given a hard date for an IPO by the way, so I'm not sure what you mean by your statement of "he's always said it would be in 2019".

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#115
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand how this brings insight into "additional factors" in their "valuation", as the article mentions nothing about their valuation, just that they have efficient batteries.

Many people think of Tesla as a car company, when actually it's an energy company. Other car manufacturers are not.

Their balance sheet still reflects liabilities in terms of showrooms, salaried salespeople for those showrooms, automobile service centers and salaried mechanics at those service centers.

Until those expenses become immaterial in the grand scheme of things, they’re a car company.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#116
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of like big mining companies aren't actually mining companies, they're finance and investment companies. The actual mining is done by contractors three or four tiers down in the contract stack.

No company is a what it actually does company.

> No company is a what it actually does company.

Or perhaps that companies, like individuals, have facets.

Someone calling Google a search engine company is no more correct than you saying they are an advertising company, technology company etc, or in a negative sense, a monopoly.

Each of these epithets refer to the same entity, it's just that each emphasizes a particular trait over other traits for the point being made. A regulator is more much more likely to use "search engine" in conjugation with "monopoly" to characterize Google than with the term "technology company" since their goal is to highlight a potential case of abuse that is known to stem from such market power.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#117
post #41

Just when you thought bay area housing pries couldn't get any crazier, Uber files for IPO same week as Lyft.

The number of Lyft and Uber employees is minuscule compared to the size of the housing market.

Do most Lyft and Uber employees even have large enough stock grants to buy houses?

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#118
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC, it was a survey of at least almost a hundred economists and 80% said by 2020. I also read reasonings by Roubini who predicted the 2008 Great Recession correctly and Martin Feldstein at Harvard. They sounded quite convincing. Interestingly, I did not encounter any opinion by an economist that it is unlikely to occur before 2020. The flurry of upcoming IPOs is also partial evidence of what top VCs and executives…

Ok. so what is the cause of this great recession? Nafta? China? What?

Rising interest rates and corporate debt, at a guess.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#119
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not close to profitable. Recent quarterly losses: Q1: $601 million net loss Q2: $891 million net loss Q3: $1.07 billion net loss I'm not an accountant, but I'm not sure how this can go well for them.

I can't get my head around that. They lose a fortune every few minutes.

$8,100 per minute apparently: https://www.google.com/search?q=1.07+billion+dollars+per+3+m...

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#120
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the privacy policy on your tool? The data that I enter, do you have access to it?

Not at all, but you're welcome to share the results with us and get additional help / advice. I won't sell you on how seriously we take security and privacy. I built IPO Ready with IPO lawyers and let's just say they don't mess around. Details are in the Terms of Use in the footer.

IAAL. It’s odd that Orrick doesnt mention how the data submitted will be handled. It’s not addressed in the Terms of Use, and there doesn’t seem to be any privacy policy. Also, the fact that you side-stepped a very straightforward question (“What will you do with my data?”) by citing the bona fides of your lawyers is a red flag. Just saying...
Post reply on HN