Unicorns to launch Initial Public Offerings with massive losses – Lyft ($20 billion), Uber ($100 billion)

Lyft reported revenue of $2.2 billion and losses of $911 million in 2018. Lyft aims to value itself at about $20 billion

Lyft Touts Revenue, Values in Video Pitch to Investor Prospects (Bloomberg)

• Roadshow for $2.1 billion IPO kicks off with drone shots, funk
• CFO lingers on revenue growth metrics — losses not so much
• www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-18/lyft-touts-revenue-values-in-video-pitch-to-investor-prospects

—

Lyft’s Revenue Doubled In 2018 As It Gains On Uber In U.S., But Losses Still Growing (Forbes)

FT: The Unicorn’s ‘Van Wilder’ moment

Uber reported revenue of $11.3 billion and losses of $3.3 billion in 2018. Uber aims to value itself at about $100 billion.

With an estimated company valuation of around $100 billion, Uber could be the largest IPO in U.S. market history.

Unfortunately for retail investors who do not get shares at the IPO price, history hasn’t been kind to large tech IPOs. Eight of the ten largest tech IPOs in history declined between 25 and 71 percent in the year following their first day of trading.

 

In review, Snapchat posted $404.48 million in revenue and $515 million losses in 2016. IPO was on March 2017. The company raised $33 billion.

Sources:

Snap’s revenue: www.statista.com/statistics/552702/snapchat-annual-revenue/

Snap shares closed their first day of trading up 44 percent at $24.48 a share, quenching a long drought in the market for tech IPOs.

More than 200 million shares — the entire size of the offering — changed hands over the course of the day, accounting for roughly 10 percent of the total volume of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.