Making millionaires: Uber’s $100 billion IPO by the numbers

April 12, 2019

Ride-sharing giant Uber has filed for its long-awaited IPO, submitting an S-1 to the US Securities and Exchanges Commission which lays the company’s internal finances and operations bare as investors gear up to take a slice.

Uber is planning to list on the NYSE under the ticker ‘UBER’ and while the filing does not reveal the stock price the company is expected to list at, TechCrunch reports it’s rumoured to be aiming to sell $US10 billion ($14 billion) worth of stock, which would value the company at about $US100 billion.

Since its founding 10 years ago in 2009, Uber has revolutionised the taxi and transport industry while simultaneously burning money and attracting controversy. It’s filing is a triumphant moment for its founders and investors, who have poured more than $US24.2 billion into the startup since its inception.

However, the float is perhaps more significant for the global startup ecosystem, showing a company which made no profit for nine years, burns through revenue, pays workers a pittance and only barely avoided complete cultural chaos over its mistreatment and discrimination against women employees can still be lauded by investors and used by millions.

We’ve broken out some of the more significant figures and aspects of Uber’s S-1 for you to shake your head at below.

$US11.27 billion is the amount of revenue the company posted for the 2018 financial year, an increase of $US3.34 billion on the year prior. However, this was paired with an adjusted EBITDA loss of $US1.85 billion and a net income of $US997 million.
91 million is the number of monthly active platform consumers (a fancy way of saying users) on Uber’s platforms in the last quarter of 2018, with total active users up 35% on the year before.

Source: Uber’s S-1 filing.

Five, the number of times I’ve ordered UberEats in the past month. Uber has said its food-delivery platform has the potential to access a $US795 billion market and pulled in revenue of $US1.5 billion over 2018. The company says UberEats is the largest delivery platform in the world outside of China, however, this growth can come at the expense of small-business owners, who have expressed concern about the high fees and unfavourable terms.
1,973,437,500, the number of dozen cartons of extra-large free-range eggs Uber founder Travis Kalanick could buy from Coles with his estimated $US9 billion payout from the company’s listing. The ousted chief still owns 8.6% of the company and is set to make a motza despite being booted from the company over numerous scandals.
A shitload of millionaires and a good number of billionaires will be made after Uber hits the NYSE, considering the company has gone through 22 different funding rounds.
87 is the number of times ‘scooter’ is mentioned in the filing. Uber has been pushing hard into other transport options, such as electric scooters, however, the company is foreseeing a number of risks with growing into the space. This includes theft, lack of competence by riders, greater risk of injury or death, congestion, and poor manufacturing from third parties.
Zero, the number of times beloved children’s book character ‘Grug’ is mentioned in the listing.
39, the number of direct competitors named by Uber in its filing, across industries such as freight, personal mobility, food delivery and driverless vehicles. A number of these competitors are actually owned by Uber, and none of them are Australian companies.
$US3.3 billion is how much Uber has spent on acquisitions in 2018 and 2019, which included a $US3 billion acquisition of Middle Eastern competitor Careem.