Ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft preparing to become public companies
The two largest ride-hailing companies appear set to go public, with both Uber and Lyft making confidential filings to the U.S. Securities Commission for initial public offerings of shares.
Timing of the listings is uncertain, given the current turmoil in stock markets, but the filings made last week leave the door open for IPOs in early 2019.
As the largest ride-hailing service, Uber has potential to become one of the largest initial offerings ever, topping $100 billion US, according to Wall Street analysts.
San Francisco-based Lyft filed with the SEC last Thursday, but didn't say how many shares it would issue or the price of its stock.
The company is valued at around $15 billion US, given the most recent private investment information, Reuters said. Lyft confirmed its plan to list on its website and said the timing of the IPO depended on market conditions.
Lyft was launched in the summer of 2012 by Logan Green and John Zimmer as Zimride, a ride-sharing service between cities shared on Facebook. In 2013, it launched an app and became Lyft.
The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that Uber had also filed for an IPO.
Uber raised $20B
Uber has already started releasing its financial results, despite being a private company. It lost $1.1 billion in the three months ending in September and brought in revenue of $3 billion.
Founded in 2009 by Travis Kalanick, Uber has raised almost $20 billion from investors such as Japan's SoftBank and Toyota.
Uber hasn't publicly confirmed its IPO plans, and there is no indication yet of the number of shares that might be issued or when it would list.
Ride-hailing companies are among the fastest growing privately held enterprises in North America.
But their rapid growth and the desire to develop self-driving cars leaves them with a great need for capital. Their IPOs have been hotly anticipated by the market.
The largest initial public offering to date was Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s $25 billion listing in 2014.
