*By Madison Alworth*
The race between Uber and Lyft to go public first may spur companies outside the rideshare space to come to market too.
One such company might be delivery service Postmates, said Wall Street Journal reporter Maureen Farrell.
"Until really this year, these really well-capitalized, fast-growing companies ー we heard about them for so long, and we knew that they were waiting as long as possible to tap the market," Farrell said Wednesday in an interview on Cheddar.
"Now it seems like almost the opposite. These companies are getting a ton of capital in the private market, but they are going out there and trying to go to the public market sooner than later.”
Farrell said Postmates has interviewed bankers, though hasn't picked underwriters yet. "But it's a clear step in the direction towards an IPO."
"I know their CEO has been kind of vocal about wanting to go in 2019 and saying they’re ready."
An offering from Postmates would add to an already-stacked docket for IPOs next year ー and some lofty valuations.
Bankers are reportedly saying Uber could be valued as high as $120 billion in its offering, double its valuation after a fundraising round two months ago. And Lyft, after choosing its underwriters, could reach a valuation of $15.1 billion. It remains to be seen whether these valuations will stick once the Silicon Valley stars hit Wall Street.
"I think there could be a huge variation in what the market will think about Uber and Lyft," Farrell said. "They’re both unprofitable, they’re very fast growing, there are so many different factors at play."
One factor is whether investors have enough appetite for two publicly traded rideshare companies ー if Uber makes it to market first, will investors who buy in also want shares of Lyft? Conversely, if Lyft wins the race and performs well, it could set the stage for its bigger counterpart.
"If Lyft could essentially set a baseline, and Uber could be valued off of them ー assuming it goes well ー public investors would have had time to understand and digest this whole new business model there could be upside for Uber there."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/ride-sharing-companies-racing-toward-a-2019-ipo).
Driver assistance monitoring systems are meant to keep the driver's eyes on the road, but according to a report from AAA, different ways of monitoring provide significantly different results. The study found that direct camera-based systems that scanned the driver's eye movements were faster and more reliable than those indirect systems that looked at steering-wheel input. Megan McKernan, the manager of automotive services for the Automobile Club of Southern California, joined Cheddar to discuss the findings. "Triple-A is recommending that automakers include both direct and indirect systems just to really prevent consumers from trying to misuse these systems," she said, noting that neither system on its own is not foolproof.
"Sing 2" has overthrown "Spider-Man: No Way Home" as the number one film at the UK box office. The animated sequel brought in $8.1 million, in just its two first weekends. However, "No Way Home" is still on track to beat "Avatar" as the number one grossing movie of all time.
Pinterest recently added augmented reality to its portfolio. The image sharing and social media platform's new e-commerce tech will allow consumers to interact with retailers and visualize online products inside their homes.
On this episode of Cheddar Reveals, Jim Riordan, Director of the MBA Sport Management program at Florida Atlantic University, breaks down the successes, failures, and chaos of the first seven months of the Name, Image, Likeness policy in college athletics; Adi Kunalic, President of Opendorse, discusses the first-ever association-wide deal in college athletics between Opendorse and the NAIA, and how Opendorse is marketing and educating student-athletes to make the most of their NIL deal potential; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Predicting a Pro'.
Jim Riordan, Director of the MBA Sport Management program at Florida Atlantic University, joins Cheddar Reveals to break down the successes, failures, and chaos of the first seven months of the Name, Image, Likeness policy in college athletics.
Adi Kunalic, President of Opendorse, joins Cheddar Reveals to discuss the first-ever association-wide deal in college athletics between Opendorse and the NAIA, and how Opendorse is marketing and educating student-athletes to make the most of their NIL deal potential.
Jason Chinnock, CEO of Ducati North America, discusses ways demand has changed over the last year and what supplying race bikes for the MotoE World Cup series means for Ducati's future.
The value of most cryptocurrencies have plummeted in recent months since reaching all-time highs in November, wiping out more than $1 trillion in value globally. The steep crash has some talking about the possibility of a crypto winter, a term referring to a prolonged bearish period where asset prices persistently fall over many months. This all comes as the Fed is expected to raise interest rates, and the Biden administration is working on an executive order to regulate Bitcoin and other assets. Josh Goodbody, COO of Qredo, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the crypto crash, and how the industry might recover from it.
Logitech posted better-than-expected earnings in its third quarter, reporting sales of $1.63 billion dollars, down 2% from the year ago quarter, but well ahead of the Wall Street consensus of $1.48 billion dollars. The PC and gaming peripherals company also raised its annual guidance for both sales and profitability. Bracken Darrell, Logitech CEO, joined Cheddar to break down his reaction to the results, how the pandemic played a role in its growth, and where he wants to take the company next.
