Uber was set to go public with a valuation of around US$82bn, in the most highly valued stock introduction in years. But Uber says its real strength is not in being a taxi alternative. Instead, it is its ability to apply its vast data trove and routing software to rewrite how goods and people move from one place to another, using computer algorithms to remove what tech sees as inefficiencies in the world.
Uber’s biggest competitor is not rival ride-hailing service Lyft, analysts say, but Amazon, which moves goods all over the world. It has budding businesses, such as freight forwarding, food and even package delivery.
That is why it could be worth more than twice as much as Ford Motor Co., or nearly four times as much as Fiat Chrysler, on Uber’s first day of trading. Uber said that it plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange at US$45 per share, giving the company a valuation at the low end of its anticipated US$80 to US$90bn range.