Uber opens at $42 per share • Hacker News Board

Re: Uber opens at $42 per share

#111

Post by nonaime » Fri, May 10, 2019, 6:05 PM UTC

malvosenior wrote: post #32

duxup wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I don't remember it well enough but Amazon's business model seemed a lot more ... tangible than Uber's don't you think?

As a heavy early Amazon and Uber user, I'd say not really. Both are pretty revolutionary and I certainly have been paying Uber a lot more than I was paying Amazon when they just sold books.

I get how Amazon can be seen as revolutionary, but not how Uber (or even Lyft) is. I mean, when I think of catching a taxi back in the day, the only difference is that I made a phonecall instead of using an app to get the service. If it's the "gig economy-ness" of it, we had hacks in my hometown. Maybe there was a license requirement to be a hack, but it always felt like hacks were just regular schmoes who would charge a flat fee to take you somewhere.

Re: Uber opens at $42 per share

#112

Post by eigenvalue » Fri, May 10, 2019, 6:05 PM UTC

hayksaakian wrote: post #107

eigenvalue wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is only true in general for tech companies because they tend to be "capital light"-- they don't require a lot of traditional capital assets such as factories and warehouses. Generally, the only tech companies which require a lot of capital are the ones that are burning cash and need to replenish their coffers. But IPOs can greatly help jump-start the growth of more traditional companies which are often constrain…

Do IPOs usually generate new funding for the IPO company? IPOs seem serve as an `exit` for private investors who bought in while the company was private?

They do both. It's relatively rare for a company to IPO without raising fresh capital for the company. There are however often "secondary" share sales where only "selling shareholders" (rather than the company) receive the proceeds.

Re: Uber opens at $42 per share

#113

Post by AznHisoka » Fri, May 10, 2019, 6:06 PM UTC

scarejunba wrote: post #84

wesammikhail wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of Aswath Damodaran´s china bit: "When in doubt, use China. It´s gonna make you look smart while saying absolutely nothing"

The absolute confidence with which people provide post-hoc explanations is great. Often the data is available for those explanations before the market behaviour and with $10k you could make $500k on SPY but everyone can explain after the fact but no one can predict. Absolute cock and bull nonsense.

What is funny is when you see CNBC change the headline/narrative when the market suddenly moves in the opposite direction.

Stock drops 2% at open:

"Markets are falling because tariffs are 100% bearish signal. Sell it all!"

Stock rebounds 2% a minute later:

"Markets are up because tariffs can't stop the American economy."

Re: Uber opens at $42 per share

#114

Post by meddlepal » Fri, May 10, 2019, 6:06 PM UTC

jonknee wrote: post #91

bfrog wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the burn rate uber has, it'll be bankrupt in < 2 years. There are no other suckers to buy in after the public.

They could also stop spending so much?

Yep I really feel like a lot of these companies are drunk on spending.

Re: Uber opens at $42 per share

#115

Post by guelo » Fri, May 10, 2019, 6:07 PM UTC

dymk wrote: post #26

duxup wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I don't remember it well enough but Amazon's business model seemed a lot more ... tangible than Uber's don't you think?

In the 1997, Amazon's proposition of "Online retailer" was also pretty far fetched. It wasn't obvious that their model was going to make them one of the largest retailers in the world.

It wasn't farfetched, everyone had the same idea, there were dozens of online retailers that IPO'd in those years. Amazon was just better managed so it was one of the few that survived the dotcom crash.

Re: Uber opens at $42 per share

#116

Post by Animats » Fri, May 10, 2019, 6:08 PM UTC

dymk wrote: post #26

duxup wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I don't remember it well enough but Amazon's business model seemed a lot more ... tangible than Uber's don't you think?

In the 1997, Amazon's proposition of "Online retailer" was also pretty far fetched. It wasn't obvious that their model was going to make them one of the largest retailers in the world.

Right. At the time, I thought Sears would dominate that business. They had the big-catalog fulfillment thing down, and had for a century. All they needed to do was take it online. But Sears gave up on general mail order in 1993, when they discontinued their huge print catalog. They thought WalMart and the malls had won.

Re: Uber opens at $42 per share

#117

Post by msoad » Fri, May 10, 2019, 6:08 PM UTC

khazhou wrote: post #55

According to this article, stock was valued internally at $49/share in 2016 , so anyone joining in the last three years will not have enjoyed any sort of rocket-ship growth. https://news.yahoo.com/uber-employees-may-not-partying-15171...

We don't know if they did a split before going public or not.

Re: Uber opens at $42 per share

#118

Post by acjohnson55 » Fri, May 10, 2019, 6:10 PM UTC

throwaway66666 wrote: post #82

Unprofitable companies are the only ones that really benefit from IPOs. An IPO is basically a way for the company to raise money, but tis time straight from the public. Usually when it gets harder and harder for them to attract private investors. The IPO listing basically guarantees that they won't take the public's billions and run. Successful companies with perfect cash flows (think of Github, Valve, IKEA) always t…

Facebook was extremely cavalier about data handling and privacy well before they were public.

Re: Uber opens at $42 per share

#119

Post by shereadsthenews » Fri, May 10, 2019, 6:10 PM UTC

outside1234 wrote: post #70

I mean, let's be real here, is $42 really disappointing? Because from where I sit, this company is going to be bankrupt in short order.

It's certainly disappointing for people who have been underpaid compared to industry salaries for the last several years based on their belief that their shares were worth more.

Re: Uber opens at $42 per share

#120

Post by AznHisoka » Fri, May 10, 2019, 6:12 PM UTC

bfrog wrote: post #36

jdavis703 wrote: post #4

This is unfortunate for many of the rank and file Uber employees but it’s good news for the stock market in general. It’s showing we’re not in a tech bubble and companies are still going to be valued based on how strong their business case is.

With the burn rate uber has, it'll be bankrupt in < 2 years. There are no other suckers to buy in after the public.

The public is an infinite supply of suckers though. Until they go bankrupt, their stock price doesn't have to reflect their financial position. People will buy it if they believe you can dump it to a greater fool later on.