Uber Aims to Top $80 Billion Valuation in Year’s Largest IPO

(Bloomberg) — Uber Technologies Inc. is seeking to raise as much as $9 billion in an initial public offering that could give the ride-hailing giant a market valuation of as much as $84 billion.

The No. 1 ride-hailing company plans to offer 180 million shares at $44 to $50 each, according to a regulatory filing Friday. The filing puts Uber on track to make its trading debut in May on the New York Stock Exchange in what is expected to be the year’s biggest U.S. IPO.

At the top of the range the listing would value Uber at almost $84 billion, based on the number of shares outstanding after the offering, as detailed in the filing. On a fully diluted basis, including the addition of stock options, restricted shares or other stakes not included in the outstanding total, the valuation could top $91.5 billion.

Payments company PayPal Holdings Inc. has agreed to buy $500 million of Uber’s stock at the IPO price in a private placement.

Uber also provided a range for its first-quarter performance in the updated filing. Based on the midpoint of Uber’s projections, the company expects to have a net loss of $1.07 billion on $3.07 billion in revenue in the quarter. Revenue growth slowed to 19 percent compared to the same quarter last year, down from 22 percent growth in the comparable fourth quarter.

At the targeted range, San Francisco-based Uber’s offering will be among the 10 largest U.S. IPOs of all time and the biggest on a U.S. exchange since Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s $25 billion global record holder in 2014. In March, ride-hailing rival Lyft Inc. raised $2.34 billion in its IPO — the year’s biggest so far — amid a swarm of listings by tech-related companies including Pinterest Inc. and Zoom Video Communications Inc.

Other high-profile startups with plans to go public, or considering it, include Slack Technologies Inc., Postmates Inc., Palantir Technologies Inc. and Airbnb Inc.

Uber’s offering is being led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. The bankers, along with the company’s management, will hit the road to start marketing the stock to potential investors Friday, according to a term sheet reviewed by Bloomberg. They’ll travel to cities including New York, London, Boston and San Francisco to pitch the shares, before aiming to set the final price on May 9, the terms show.

(Updates with private placement in fourth paragraph.)

–With assistance from Crystal Tse.

To contact the reporters on this story: Olivia Zaleski in San Francisco at [email protected];Eric Newcomer in San Francisco at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at [email protected];Mark Milian at [email protected]

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