Thursday 09 May 2019 11:04 pm | Updated: Wednesday 05 June 2019 9:03 am

Uber prices at the bottom of its IPO range to be valued at $82.4bn

Ride-hailing giant Uber has priced its initial public offering at $45 per share, landing at the lower end of its targeted range to raise $8.1bn (£6.2bn) in a Wall Street flotation on Friday afternoon .

The pricing assigns Uber a valuation of $82.4bn, significantly lower than the $120bn valuation predicted by its investment bankers last year.

Uber had set out a $44 to $50 per share price range for the float at the end of April, but appeared to adopt a risk-averse approach against a disappointing reception on public markets for rival Lyft.

Lyft priced strongly at $72 per share when it went public in late March, but its share price has since plummeted 23 per cent. The company’s shares hit a record closing low of $52.91 last night.

In its pitch to investors last month, Uber reported an operating loss of $3bn in 2018 on revenue of $11.3bn.

Despite missing its original expectations, Uber’s $8bn flotation will be the largest US offering since Facebook raised $16bn in 2012.

Brian Hamilton, a tech entrepreneur and founder of data firm Sageworks, said: “If you buy [Uber stock], you are buying a bull market, not a company.”

“In the subtle tension between a loss-making company looking to raise capital to maximise its runway, or to create an orderly aftermarket for the benefit of all [new and existing] shareholders, it looks like the latter prevailed,” added Ian Wallis, adviser to Uber investor MVP Star Tech NG Fund.