In the lead-up to two of the hottest tech IPOs on the market, Uber and Lyft will give their more loyal drivers a chance to cash in.
The Wall Street Journal reports that in the event of an IPO, both companies will offer cash bonuses to drivers — or the option to use that cash toward company stock at its IPO price before it begins trading.
This is an unprecedented win for rideshare workers who have long clamored for a piece of the multibillion-dollar pie built on the backs of their Priuses.
How will it work?
Both programs will work on a sliding scale based on a driver’s length of service or number of rides. For example:
Lyft will give riders with 10k rides $1k in cash, or the equivalent number of shares. Drivers with 20k rides will earn $10k (though WSJ points out that a driver would need to average 15.4 rides a day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year, for 5 years to reach 20k rides).
Get ready for March Madness
Lyft plans to begin its roadshow (AKA, the Tour de Potential Investors) the week of March 18, while Uber is expected to go public later this year.
Despite the hype, it’s uncertain whether these stocks will experience a “first day pop” upon trading, or long-term success.
Either way, it will be a long-awaited look under the hood of the ride-sharing giants, both of which have posted quarterly losses in the hundreds of millions in the pursuit of hyper-growth.