According to The Wall Street Journal, Lyft, the second-largest online car company in the US, has selected underwriters for the IPO in the first half of next year. JPMorgan Chase, Credit Suisse and Jefferies Group will lead the release together. Some people say that Lyft The valuation is likely to exceed the estimated $15.1 billion earlier this year.
Recently, its competitor Uber also said that it will conduct an IPO in the first half of 2019, with a valuation of up to $120 billion. Earlier, Uber had set the IPO time in the second half of 2019.
This week, Lyft also disclosed its third-quarter earnings to investors. The company's third-quarter revenue rose to $563 million from $300 million in the same period last year, but the loss also increased from $195 million in the same period last year to $254 million. Lyft's way of earning is to charge a commission, and the company charges a 25% commission on each fare.
Over the past year or so, Uber's negative news has continued, and Lyft has taken the opportunity to expand its market share in the United States.
According to previous articles on Wall Street, data from the third-party analyst firm Second Measure shows that Lyft currently has a market share of 24%. If it does not count toward Uber's food delivery service, Lyft's market share is 27%. Lyft's data released in May showed that The company has a 35% market share in the US, and its market share in January 2017 was only 22%.
In addition to expanding its domestic market share, Lyft also entered its first international market, Canada, last year and plans to enter the European and Latin American markets. While Uber operates globally, it has just withdrawn from Southeast Asia, Russia and China because of competition. Intense operation leads to poor operation.
Wall Street has noticed that although Lyft's valuation is far worse than Uber, Lyft's valuation has tripled since 2016.
In April 2017, Lyft's valuation was only $7.5 billion. By the beginning of 2018, Lyft raised $1.5 billion and the valuation became $11.5 billion. In June this year, it was awarded a new one led by investment institution Fidelity Investment. After a $600 million financing, Lyft's valuation reached $15.1 billion.
Since its establishment in 2012, Lyft has raised a total of US$5.1 billion, and its competitor Uber has a total financing of US$16 billion in its nine years since its establishment.
Another report in The Wall Street Journal pointed out that last month, investment bank Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley proposed a valuation proposal to Uber, valuation of up to 120 billion US dollars, almost twice the valuation two months ago. The sky-high valuation exceeds the sum of the market capitalization of the three major US auto companies, General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler.
In 2018, technology companies rushed to go public. So far this year, IPO technology companies in the United States have risen by an average of 33%. According to the Wall Street Journal, one reason why Uber went public in advance is that the market will cool down later.
In addition, according to CNBC, Lyft has just launched a new monthly service, that is, the user prepays $299, and can enjoy free rides or discounts within 30 days. Subscribers can take 30 free rides per month for Lyft. As long as the fare is less than $15 each time. If the fare exceeds $15, the user will need to pay the difference. Within 30 days, starting from the 31st service, the user can enjoy a 5% discount each time.
Its competitor Uber is also testing similar monthly services.