Uber and Lyft have yet another front in their rivalry: the stock market. Both companies filed for an initial public offering (IPO) at the end of 2018, and both are looking to actually have that IPO take place in 2019.
The two companies are often compared, and that makes sense since they are both ride-share apps. However, in many ways the companies are extremely different. There’s no question that Uber is a significantly larger company with more resources, more market share, more corporate divisions, and just more generally going on. Lyft doesn’t compete with Uber in a number of areas; for example, Lyft isn’t trying to go into self-driving cars or air-based services like Uber is. Also, Lyft is only based in the U.S. and Canadian markets, while Uber has a foothold in markets around the world.
While that does mean that Uber is a larger company, it does not mean that it will necessarily give more value to investors. Growth after the IPO is more important to investors than company size at the time of IPO. In that way, Lyft may have a fighting chance. Lyft continues to increase its market share and has managed to avoid most of the scandals Uber continually finds itself in.
And with months before any IPO may actually occur, the comparison game is probably pretty premature.
