Uber shares fall as early investors get chance to sell
Profitibility remains elusive as ride-hailing giant struggles after going publie
Uber shares fell sharply Wednesday, the day early investors and insiders could sell their stock in the ride-hailing company for the first time.
Big declines in Uber’s stock price are nothing new, though. Since Uber went public in May in a disappointing debut that still ranked as one of the biggest by an American tech company, its shares have declined nearly 40%. But Wednesday’s sell-off came after the expiration of the lockup period, the time set after a company’s initial public offering that restricts big shareholders from selling their shares.
Uber stock ended the day at $26.94, down almost 4%. The shares have been on a roller coaster ride, trading below their IPO price of $42 since August. They hit a record low Tuesday
as investors reacted to the company’s release of quarterly results Monday.
But Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives on Wednesday saw cause for new hope: “The end of the lockup could mark the start of brighter days for the stock after this massive jaw-dropper sell-off over the past few months,” he said. Ives noted that it has been a “horror show” for investors since Uber’s IPO.
The stock might’ve fallen more steeply Wednesday, but Ives said that out of the more than 700 million shares Wedbush estimated were set to be unlocked, more than 500 million were underwater.
Profitability remains elusive, although Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said during this week’s earnings call that despite another huge quarterly loss (nearly $1.2 billion in