Jay-Z, Ashton Kutcher and Gwyneth Paltrow are among the A-list stars likely to get a good windfall out of Friday’s Uber IPO after the ride sharing app was valued at a staggering $82billion.
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.
Though pricing is down significantly from lofty expectations that Uber would go public with a market cap over $100billion, it would still rank among the largest IPOs in history – and Uber’s biggest shareholders stand to take home billions.
And that could result in a significant financial boost for some celebs who invested in the tech giant early doors.
Actor Kutcher invested $500,000 in Uber, Forbes reports, helping to make the company a success story.
He told the magazine in 2016: ‘You’re not even actually taking on the taxi companies—you’re taking on the notion of owning a car. That’s crazy. And that’s why it has the velocity and potential that it has.’
Jay-Z was an early investor in the smart-phone cab hailing app while Beyoncé was reportedly paid $6 million in restricted stock units for a concert for employees in 2015
Ashton Kutcher invested $500,000 in Uber, helping to make the company a success story
Considered to be the pioneer of smart-phone cab hailing and one of Silicone Valley’s greatest success stories, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jay-Z were also early investors.
And while her husband has confirmed his investment in 2011, Beyoncé was reportedly later paid $6 million in restricted stock units for a concert for employees.
Olivia Munn also confirmed to Forbes that she had invested in the app. In January this year she admitted: ‘I wish I’d invested more in Uber, but it’s hard to know when something will be successful.’
Actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Jared Leto and Edward Norton are all also said to have money tied to the company.
And drug cheat cyclist Lance Armstrong has even credited his shares with ‘saving his family’ after his admission that he used banned substances throughout his career.
He and Kutcher invested in billionaire and Chris Sacca’s Lowercase Capital fund. Sacca was a friend of Uber cofounder Travis Kalanick and an early investor.
Armstrong is said to have invested $100,000 via Sacca and said his return was ‘too good to be true’. Estimates say it made him about $20 million.
Olivia Munn admitted: ‘I wish I’d invested more in Uber, but it’s hard to know when something will be successful’ while Lance Armstrong has even credited his shares with ‘saving his family’
Considered to be the pioneer of smart-phone cab hailing and one of Silicone Valley’s greatest success stories, Gwyneth Paltrow was also an early investor
But the biggest individual winner will be investment fund manager Matt Cohler, whose firm Benchmark holds 11 per cent of Uber’s stock, putting it in line for a windfall of $6.75 billion.
Uber co-founders Travis Kalanick and Garret Camp will also net billions each when the bell rings at the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.
Kalanick’s stock would be worth $5.3billion, while Camp’s shares will be worth $3.7billion.
Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, an Uber board member, owns shares that will be worth about $1million.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Shark Tank investor Chris Sacca also made large investments Uber early on and look set to make millions.
Actors Leonardo DiCaprio, right, Jared Leto, left, and Edward Norton are all also said to have money tied to the company
Uber drivers will also be offered bonuses with which to buy shares, with rewards capping out at $40,000 for those who have made more than 40,000 trips.
In 2018 the company’s revenue reached $11.3 billion, with losses of $1.8 billion reported. According to its IPO filing Uber has never actually turned a profit.
Recently the company has become embroiled in a pricing war with Lyft, with both of the hailing apps trying to attract and retain customers with low prices, while paying drivers enough to remain under their employ too.
The pricing war has led to thousands of Lyft and Uber drivers striking this week, who claim they’re given low wages and limited job protections as most are considered independent contractors.
Uber has now reached settlements with some of 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 IPO debut.