Uber Prices IPO At Only $45 Per Share, One Day After Drivers’ Strike

So much for the largest IPO valuation in history. Uber Technologies Inc. surprised Wall Street Thursday by pricing its IPO at $45 per share, which is the low end of its stated range. Uber later confirmed the price in a press statement.

At this IPO price, Uber will be valued at about $75.46 billion on a non-diluted basis. On a fully diluted basis, Uber has an implied market valuation of $82.4 billion, however. Uber will list Friday with the ticker "UBER."

The IPO price of $45 per share and a $75.46 billion market cap is way-off the optimistic $100 billion to $120 billion market cap forecast by some analysts in the run-up to the IPO. The price will also see Uber's market cap being almost similar to that of Caterpillar's (which went public in 1978), but will still make it one of the most valuable companies ever to go public.

The expected price range for its IPO ranged from $44 and $50 per share, according to Uber’s filing in April.

Uber is offering 180 million shares of its common stock in its IPO, which will give it the ability to raise some $8.1 billion on Friday. There's also an option for underwriters to buy an additional 27 million shares.

The pricing comes a day after Uber drivers all over the world went on strike, demanding higher pay and job security. Thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers across the U.S. shut off their apps and refused to work to protest Uber’s pay and other policies in the wake of Lyft going public in March. Uber drivers also urged consumers to support the strike by refusing to use the Uber app.

Taking part in the strike, which lasted only a few hours, were drivers in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and London.

Uber filed its IPO in April and reported 2018 revenues of $11.27 billion, net income of $997 million and adjusted EBITDA losses of $1.85 billion.