Lydia Ramsey, Business Insider, Author at Stockhead

The much-anticipated Uber initial public offering managed to break a record, but not one that investors would have hoped for. The stock closed down 6.7% on its opening day to $US41.70, down from the $US45 a share the company priced at on Thursday night ahead of the IPO that had valued the company at $US75.5 billion. In total, the discount off the IPO price meant that investors who got in at that price saw a cumulative loss of $US655 million. By the end of day Friday, Uber had a market cap of $US69.7 billion, far below the $US120 billion valuation figure bankers had suggested in 2018. That made it the biggest first-day dollar loss of a US IPO, Jay Ritter, a professor at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business told Business Insider. Ritter’s figures accounted for IPOs from 1975 on. Percentage-wise, other IPOs have suffered far worse opening day closes. Ritter said on a percentage basis, Uber’s first day ranks as the 99th worst open for IPOs raising more than $US100 million. It’s the combination of the drop and the size of the IPO in the first place that makes it the biggest first-day dollar loss. Prior to Friday, the largest first-day dollar loss of a US IPO was in 2000 when Genuity, an internet company spun out of Verizon, went public. On its first day, Wall Street Journal reporter Rolfe Winkler noted, Genuity had lost $US233 million. That makes Uber’s first-day dollar losses almost three times as much. Uber’s IPO came during a particularly turbulent week as tensions elevated between the US and China. The timing may have cost the company billions. Alexei Oreskovic contributed reporting. This article first appeared on Business Insider Australia, Australia’s most popular business news website. Read the original article. Follow Business Insider on Facebook or Twitter.

Lydia Ramsey, Business Insider

Uber had the worst first-day dollar loss ever of any US IPO

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