Taxi-hailing company Uber’s initial public offering (IPO) is perhaps the most anticipated listing on Wall Street in years and considering the sheer numbers at play, it is not hard to see why. The taxi-hailing giant, which has also entered into the food delivery business with Uber Eats, is all set to launch the biggest IPO in Wall Street history and is seeking a valuation of up to $90 billion. The Uber IPO is currently the most valuable startup in history and its performance on listing day will be an indictment on the industry at large.

Uber IPO: The Details

According to information provided by Uber, the company is going to put 180 million shares on sale with a price range of $44 to $50 per share. Uber plans to raise a total of $7.9 billion to $9 billion in the process.

Despite the widespread anticipation with regards to the mega Uber IPO, the profitability of Uber remains an issue that is lurking in the background and the company went on to state that in Q1 2019, it is going to post losses to the tune of $1 billion to $1.1 billion. It is perhaps even more important that Uber had also issued a warning stating that the company may never actually turn a profit. However, the excitement remains, simply due to the sheer promise of the industry and the sort of big-ticket backers that it has been able to attract over the years.

The Uber IPO is expected to list on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “UBER.”

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Private Placement

However, the bigger news behind the Uber IPO and for potential investors in the IPO is the fact that the company was able to sell $500 million worth of shares to payments giant PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) in a private placement. Considering the fact that SoftBank (OTC:SFTBY) is already a large investor in the company, PayPal’s investment is another ringing endorsement. In addition to that, it has also been reported that PayPal didn’t get any discount in terms of share price in the private placement in question.

PayPal’s investment seems to be strategic in nature since it has been a payments partner of Uber for many years now and with this investment that partnership could prove to be extremely lucrative in the coming years.

Featured image: DepositPhotos @ jamdesign