Great fanfare as Uber gets its stock on the road, but app stalls in New York
Could this be the moment the sentiment on Wall Street turned against the tech sector?
Uber’s stock market debut came with all the usual razzmatazz of a big American technology IPO. The chief executive spent weeks making sweeping statements about how the business was “just getting started” and had new worlds to conquer – everything from pizza delivery to international freight. In the background, investment bankers whipped up buyers for the “transportation” stock of the 21st century.
And, when the big day arrived on Friday, company executives rang the bell to open trading on the New York Stock Exchange while bagels were delivered to traders on the floor. All textbook stuff. Yet Uber’s arrival as a public company felt flat. It also had an end-of-an-era tone.