Ride sharing Giant Uber does not do anything at a smaller scale. When Uber was in the process of raising money, it raised approximately $25 billion dollars. Uber loses money every quarter, at astronomical burn rates. The Innovative taxi solution debuted on the New York Stock Exchange today, in the middle of international trade uncertainty and following a massive, international strike by its own drivers.
In terms of percentage losses, Uberʼs dip does not even scratch the surface of the worst IPOs. But the staggering valuation of the company makes it, in raw scale; among the top 10 IPOs ever (including companies outside the U.S).
According to University of Florida professor Jay Ritter, Uberʼs 7.62 percent decline since hitting the NYSE makes it “bigger than first day dollar losses of any prior IPO in the U.S.” That single digit decline resulted in an estimated $617 million paper losses.
Considering the condescending fact that Uberʼs debut valuation was approximately $76.5 billion, which was a considerable drop from $90 to $120 billion evaluation the company had been worth just a month earlier; a tragic result of over-competition in market share with bleeding that had begun with competitor Lyftʼs bellyflop IPO.
According to one analyst, the company may be profitable by 2024, though its only current plan, is to continue to screw workers and eventually replace them with unproven technology. As former CEO Travis Kalanick said in 2014, “the reason that Uber could be expensive is youʼre not just paying for the car, youʼre paying for the other dude in the car whoʼs driving.”