Uber Sets Share Price At $45 Ahead Of IPO, Reaches Agreement With Drivers
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Uber has reached settlements with some drivers who said they should have been classified as employees instead of independent contractors.
The settlement agreement was announced Thursday, on the eve of Uber's anticipated IPO.
The agreements follow strikes by Uber and Lyft drivers who were protesting what they said were low wages with no job protections.
Uber said it reached agreements with the majority of the 60,000 drivers who were involved the claims. It anticipates spending $146 million to $170 million to pay the settlements and attorney fees, and said it set aside $132 million for that purpose in December.
Lyft faces similar challenges, and said it paid $1.95 million to settle a 2018 California case alleging the company misclassified drivers as independent contractors.
Uber priced its long-awaited IPO on Thursday at $45 per share, valuing the world's largest ride-hailing company at $82 billion.
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Uber is about to embark on a wild ride on Wall Street with the biggest and most hotly debated IPO in years.
The world's leading ride-hailing service set the stage for its long-awaited arrival on the stock market by pricing its initial public offering at $45 per share Thursday.
The price is at the lower end of its targeted range of $44 to $50 per share. The pricing may have been driven by the escalating doubts about Uber's ability to make money since its main rival, Lyft, went public six weeks ago and continues to see its stock drop.
Even at the tamped-down price, Uber now has a market value of $82 billion—significantly more than century-old automakers General Motors and Ford Motor.
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