Lyft IPO: Shares Soar In Early Trading, Settle With 8.74 Percent Gain
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF/AP) -- San Francisco-based ride-hailing giant Lyft launched its initial public offering of shares Friday with values soaring over 20 percent in early trading on Wall Street.
Priced at $72 a share at the launch, the stock's value climbed to $87.24 before settling into a range of about $86 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Shares closed at $78.29, up 8.74 percent.
In a sign of how Lyft has changed the way we think of transportation, executives celebrated the company's stock market debut from the inside of a former car dealership they plan to convert into a center for their company's drivers.
Lyft has won the race with its much larger rival Uber to go public, and is giving investors their first chance to get in on the peer-to-peer ride-sharing business.
Investors have been clamoring to get in on the action, and Lyft raised its price target over the course of the last week, settling on $72, which exceeded even its own expectations.
Co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer talked about their early vision of the company and their commitment to providing alternatives to individual car ownership.
"In 2012 we launched Lyft, and pioneered the idea of on-demand peer-to-peer ride-sharing," said Logan Green, CEO and co-founder, at an event in Los Angeles Friday. "In those early days we were told we were crazy to think people would ride in each others' personal vehicles. And now, after more than 1 billion rides, we're able to look forward to a world we've long imagined, designed less for cars and more for people."
