Should Lyft go public before Uber?
September 8, 2017
When new Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi last week told the troops not to expect an IPO until at least 18 months from now, it sparked an interesting question: Should Lyft accelerate its own IPO plans, in order to gain a first-mover advantage?
- The argument here seems to be one of creative destruction. A publicly-traded Lyft could effectively reset Uber’s private valuation, thus causing cap table chaos, more board disputes, unhappy employees, etc
- Even if it doesn’t raise again privately, the public comp could delay Uber’s own IPO (i.e., make it wait to grow into its private valuation).
- Plus, Lyft wouldn’t have to go public in the shadow of Uber’s much larger numbers (at least not fully-audited ones).