Investors hitch a ride on Lyft’s IPO at $72 a share

Lyft had little trouble getting investors to hop on board its increasingly popular ride-hailing service, as its initial public offering fetched a $72 US per-share price that exceeded even its own expectations.

The price sets Lyft’s market value at $24 billion, though the San Francisco company still hasn’t turned a profit since co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer started the service in 2012. 

It marks the first time that most people who have used their smartphone to summon a car dispatched by Lyft or its bigger rival, Uber, will have a chance to make a bet on whether the ride-hailing phenomenon will continue to transform transportation and eventually become a major money maker.

The institutional investors that bought into the IPO clearly think so, enabling Lyft to demand a price that was above its initial goal of $62 to $68 per share.

Uber is expected to go public later this spring.