Where Uber's Ugly Debut Ranks Among IPO Sell-Offs of the Decade

At least it’s not the worst start ever for an IPO.

After Uber Technologies Inc.’s $8.1 billion initial public offering, investors in the ride-hailing company were arguably less than thrilled when the stock immediately opened today more than 6% below its $45-a-share offer price.

The shares then quickly fell as low as $41.06, putting it on course for one of the worst openings for a mega-IPO in recent memory, before clawing back to trade at just under $45 as of 1 p.m. in New York.

That’s hardly the “pop” that’s associated with most IPOs, but with a few more hours of trading to go, Uber so far has avoided the worst. Since the start of the decade, only four company IPOs of a billion dollars or more have seen their shares tumble 5% or more on their debut. And out of that group of 60, just seven ended the first day of trading in the red. read more »

Uber shares fall for second day after ill-fated IPO; Lyft follows

Uber Technologies Inc shares fell as much as 10% on Monday, doubling losses since its poorly-received Wall Street debut on Friday and raising more questions about investors’ faith in its ability to make profits.

Before going public, Uber lowered its valuation expectations twice in two months to address investor concerns over the company’s mounting losses, and priced its initial public offering at the low end of the targeted range.

Rival Lyft Inc, which went public at $72 a share on March 29, has lost a third of its market value since and was down 6% at $47.95 in early trading. read more »

Dear Boeing: Repeat after me: ‘It’s our fault. We screwed up. We’re sorry.’

What should Boeing do? There is plenty of recent precedent. We are in a golden age of corporate PR disasters, from Facebook to Wells Fargo, and the aircraft manufacturer might want to look there for guidance.

For instance: Volkswagen sold 11 million diesel cars from 2009 to 2015 with computer software written to defeat the anti-pollution controls except when the cars were being tested. The company lost $33 billion in fines and recalls, and two executives went to prison.

“We’ve totally screwed up,” said VW America boss Michael Horn. That’s the tone Boeing needs to reach for, though it took VW a few years of turning on the spit of shame to get there. read more »

Collusion Allegations Send Generic Drug Company Shares Spiraling

Shares of some of the world’s biggest makers of generic drugs dropped Monday, following a new lawsuit by over 40 states accusing the companies of conspiring to fix the price of more than 100 different products in the U.S.

Mylan NV, Novartis AG’s Sandoz unit, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. were among the 20 drugmakers and subsidiaries sued by state attorneys general. More than a dozen executives from the companies were also named in the civil complaint, which was filed in federal court in Connecticut.

The states say the pharmaceutical companies conspired with one another to fix prices and carve up markets for medicines among themselves, rather than compete on price. Executives used industry dinners, cocktail parties and golf outings to perpetuate the scheme, in addition to communicating through text messages and telephone calls, the complaint said. read more »