Uber is currently looking for a large amount of office space in New York City, in advance of next month’s Initial Public Offering.
By: Craig Mendleton
Multiple sources inside Uber told Crain’s that they are searching for 250,000 to 300,000 square feet of office space. Uber Executives told Crain’s that they have looked at space near Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan — and at 3 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan — as possible locations.
Uber has retained CBRE to help with the search.
In February, Uber leased 50,000 square feet of office space 1400 Broadway for $50,000. The 50,000 square foot office at Terminal Stores, located at Hudson Yards — which is scheduled to undergo a vast renovation.
Uber’s main New York home is in Queens — where it’s had 20,000 square feet of office space in the Falachi Building since entering into a lease in 2014.
In comparison, Lyft has 11,000 square feet of space in New York — which houses its sales, marketing, and engineering departments. Lyft leased that space last year. A Lyft spokesperson at the time told The New York Post that employees will be working on research of driverless cars.
“The diversity of New York’s neighborhoods and urban layout makes it an ideal place for engineers to understand and strengthen Lyft’s technology nationwide,” the Lyft spokesperson told The Post in a statement. “If you can understand and build transportation in NYC, you can do it anywhere.”
One month before opening its Manhattan office, Lyft raised $1 billion dollars in funding.
A recent selloff and worries about a looming recession have scared off investors as well as Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s CEO.
Experts said earlier this year that Uber was overvalued at $120 billion — and is actually worth around $70 billion.
In a filing sent to the SEC earlier this month ahead of its Initial Public Offering (IPO), Uber declared that it had 91 million users, as of the end of 2018.
Uber said in the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects expenses to “increase significantly in the foreseeable future,” adding that it “may not achieve profitability.”
The New York Post reported earlier this month that Uber plans to sell about $10 billion in shares at its IPO. In the private fundraising market, Uber was valued at $76 billion dollars, however, executives are seeking a valuation of anywhere between $90 billion and $100 billion.
Uber had revenue last year of $11.3 billion dollars, and gross bookings were $50 billion, according to The Post. The Post added that Uber lost $3.3 billion last year.
