If you’re waiting for Uber to go public, you may have to wait a while.
Speaking on stage at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJDLive conference Tuesday, the ride-sharing app’s CEO Travis Kalanick made it clear that Uber isn’t headed for the public markets any time soon, saying the service is “nowhere near” that point.
Kalanick said he has received pressure from other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and investor Bill Gurley, to go public, but doesn’t feel like the company is quite there.
“We’re maturing as a company, but we’re still like eighth graders,” said Kalanick. “We’re in junior high. And someone’s telling us we need to go to the prom, but it’s a little early. Give us a few years.”
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Uber’s apparent reluctance to go public might be due in part to the company’s ready access to cash from private investors. The on-demand car service has raised more than $5 billion total and has a valuation of over $50 billion.
“There’s a lot of money in the private markets, so that part of going public is no longer there,” said Kalanick. “We feel good about where we are. We feel good about the future. We’re just not ready for that kind of event.”
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