Lyft on Monday morning revealed that it will go public with 30.8 million shares of Class A common stock at a price of between $62 and $68 a share. The ride-hailing platform could raise $1.9 billion at the lower end of that range, or as much as $2.1 billion at the higher end.
At the higher end, Lyft will have a valuation of $18.5 billion, compared with the projected valuation of $23 billion reported by the Wall Street Journal over the weekend. Both would higher than its previous $15 billion valuation when it last raised private funding in the summer of last year.
Lyft, which beat rival Uber in race to go public, could price its shares as soon as March 28. The shares are expected to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market exchange under the ticker symbol LYFT. The lead underwriters for the offering are J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse and Jefferies. Lyft has granted them the option to purchase an additional 4.6 million shares.
In 2018, the San Francisco-based company posted revenue of $2.16 billion, compared with $1.06 billion in 2017. However, net loss jumped to $911.3 million, or $43.04 a share, from with $688.3 million, or $35.53 a share a year earlier. Its cash and cash equivalents also dropped 53% to just $518 million last year.
Lyft expects net proceeds of around $1.9 billion from the offering after expenses. If the underwriters exercise their purchase options, the proceeds could rise to as much as $2.2 billion. “We intend to use a portion of the net proceeds we receive from this offering to satisfy our anticipated tax withholding and remittance obligations of $404.8 million related to the RSU Settlement,” Lyft said in its filing.
“We also intend to use the net proceeds we receive from this offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital, operating expenses and capital expenditures. Additionally, we may use a portion of the net proceeds we receive from this offering to acquire or invest in businesses, products, services or technologies.”
Lyft co-founders, John Zimmer and Logan Green, who serve as president and chief executive, respectively, will hold just less than half the votes among shareholders. But according to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Zimmer and Green will be given a special issue of stock that grants them 20 votes for each of their shares.
