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Lyft files IPO prospectus, lost $911 million in 2018

The rideshare company Lyft lost $911 million on $2.1 billion but sales are growing faster than losses.

Charles Singletary Jr

March 1, 2019 11:15 AM

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Lyft is gearing up for a big 2019. Uber and Lyft are set to battle it out as public offerings in 2019 and Lyft has finally revealed its IPO prospectus, a document that breaks down the financial details of the company's business. What we know now via this filing is that Lyft's net loss in 2018 totaled  $911 million, which is 32% more than in 2017, but the company also doubled its revenue year-over-year with $2.2 billion gained in 2018.

CNBC reported on the IPO prospectus, which included some interest stats for the company. Lyft is an on-demand rideshare company based out of San Francisco, California. In 2018, users took over 1 billion cumulative rides using the service across over 300 markets in the US and Canada. There were more than 30 million riders and 1.9 million drivers last year. The company is expected to be valued between $20-$25 billion in its IPO. For comparison's sake, Uber could be valued as high as $120 billion.

Here's the overview of Lyft's business, taken from the official prospectus document filed with the SEC:

"Lyft started a movement to revolutionize transportation. In 2012, we launched our peer-to-peer marketplace for on-demand ridesharing and have continued to pioneer innovations aligned with our mission. Today, Lyft is one of the largest and fastest-growing multimodal transportation networks in the United States and Canada. To date, we have facilitated over one billion rides.

We believe that cities should be built for people, not cars. Mass car ownership in the twentieth century brought unprecedented freedom to individuals and spurred significant economic growth. However, in the process, city infrastructure became overwhelmingly devoted to cars. Roads and parking lots have replaced too much green space. Mass car ownership strains our cities and reduces the very freedom that cars once provided.

Car ownership has also economically burdened consumers. U.S. households spend more on transportation than on any expenditure other than housing.1 In the United States alone, consumers spend over $1.2 trillion annually on personal transportation.2 On a per household basis, the average annual spend on transportation is over $9,500, with the substantial majority spent on car ownership and operation.3 Yet, the average car is utilized only five percent of the time and remains parked and unused the other 95%.4

Consumers are seeking better ways to get around. They have grown accustomed to the convenience and immediacy of the on-demand economy and expect their experiences to be more simple and enjoyable. Existing transportation options have failed to meet this shift in consumer demand, creating the opportunity for a better solution.

We believe that the world is at the beginning of a shift away from car ownership to Transportation-as-a-Service, or TaaS. Lyft is at the forefront of this massive societal change. Our ridesharing marketplace connects drivers with riders and we estimate it is available to over 95% of the U.S. population, as well as in select cities in Canada. In 2018, almost half of our riders reported that they use their cars less because of Lyft, and 22% reported that owning a car has become less important.5 As this evolution continues, we believe there is a massive opportunity for us to improve the lives of our riders by connecting them to more affordable and convenient transportation options."

The report also shared a few details for a handful of other companies that would be impacted by the public market debut. For instance, Japanese ad-tech company Rakuten owns 13 percent of Lyft and is in position to see the largest windfall with a debut on the public market. General Motors also has a 7.8% stake in the rideshare company. Stay tuned to Shacknews for additional gaming and tech updates.

Charles Singletary Jr

News Editor

Charles Singletary Jr keeps the updates flowing as the News Editor, breaking stories while investigating the biggest topics in gaming and technology. He's pretty active on Twitter, so feel free to reach out to him @The_CSJR. Got a hot tip? Email him at Charles.Singletary@Shacknews.com.