Uber (UBER) is officially a public company, trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker UBER. The ride-hailing pioneer is being closely watched by the market and the public alike, now more than ever. But among the hoopla of major profits surrounding its IPO, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi sent Uber employees a letter on the eve of the roll-out to include them in the celebration.
In it, he wrote that after nearly a decade of scaling the startup worldwide, “We’ll continue to make good on that promise when we ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange, on our first day as a public company. Wherever you are, I want you to be part of the action, so expect more details soon.”
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“An IPO is a huge moment, and it’s a day we’ve all been looking forward to. It deserves to be celebrated by all of you—and because of all of you. Your passion, hard work, and ingenuity brought us to this point, and I’m incredibly proud of what you’ve accomplished so far,” Khosrowshahi wrote.
His optimistic words also come at a time when drivers are protesting Uber and Lyft (LYFT)’s unfair treatment of their contracted employees. Due to Uber’s storied history of success and criticism, the CEO, who took over from ousted founder Travis Kalanick, encouraged employees to keep “doing the right thing.”
“As we move from a private to a public company, our jobs will no doubt become harder and all eyes will be on us. We’ll have an even deeper responsibility to our customers, to our shareholders, to our cities, and to each other. With every share purchased, someone else will join us as a co-owner of Uber—and we’ll gain another person to whom we owe a duty to always ‘do the right thing, period.'”
Uber’s public offering, which is said to be the biggest since Facebook’s IPO in 2012, comes at the heels of competitor Lyft’s sinking market shares. The San Francisco-based company priced its stock at $45 per share, with hopes of attracting investors to pump more capital into its ever-growing operation.
