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 Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg 
 
 Uber Technologies Inc. has been told by banks that it could be a $120 billion company when it goes public. Investors will be the ones who decide, though. 
 
 That eye-popping valuation was sketched out to the company by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private. Pitches from firms jockeying to convince a company that they’re the best to lead the deal are typical in the IPO process. 
 
 But if large consumer tech IPOs of the past couple years are any guide, that 12-digit number should be taken with a grain or two of salt. Both photo-sending app Snap Inc. and Chinese smartphone-maker Xiaomi Corp. had eyes on big valuations, only to see their numbers cut by half when it came to actually selling shares to investors. 
 
 Snap’s public market capitalization was seen as being as high as $40 billion five months before its listing last year, a person familiar said at the time. Its March 2017 IPO ended up valuing the company at about $20 billion, which has since sunk to $9.3 billion. Xiaomi is worth just $35.4 billion after going public in July in Hong Kong at a $54 billion valuation, which was barely half of the $100 billion target from from a few months earlier. 
 
 For investors, Uber’s valuation will largely come down to its financials. In a bond offering now being wrapped up, the company said it expected to generate $10 billion to $11 billion in net revenue this year, without logging a profit for at least more three years. 
 
 Uber Is Said to Boost Bond Sale to $2 Billion as Orders Swell 
 
 At a $120 billion, Uber would be valued at more than double the average of companies in the Nasdaq 100 Index on a price-to-2018 sales basis. It gives the ride-hailing company a multiple of about 12 times, compared with an average of 4.8 times for the index. 
 
 While that measure is imperfect -- the valuation will be based on future years’ financials, which should continue to grow -- it does give a sense for how richly valued the projections are. 
 
 Uber and its smaller competitor, Lyft Inc., intend to list next year, said people familiar with their plans. Lyft’s underwriters proposed a valuation range of $18 billion to $30 billion, with a target of $25 billion, one of the people said. Lyft generated $563 million in revenue in the third quarter, up from $300 million in the same period a year earlier, one of the people said. Its full-year revenue estimates weren’t made clear. 
 
 What is clear is that Uber and IPO-bound competitor Lyft will compare their own values to GrubHub Inc. The $11 billion food-delivery company trades at 11.2 times its 2018 revenue estimates with one major difference: it’s profitable and has been since at least 2011. ||||| SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email 
 
 Even as Uber Technologies Inc. exited China, the company's financial loss has remained eye-popping. In the first nine months of this year, the ride-hailing company lost significantly more than $2.2 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. In the third quarter, Uber lost more than $800 million, not including its Chinese operation. 
 
 At the same time, the company's revenue has continued to grow even after leaving the world's most populous country. Uber generated about $3.76 billion in net revenue in the first nine months of 2016 and is on track to exceed $5.5 billion this year, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. 
 
 Uber, a closely held company based in San Francisco, has stayed mum about its financial performance even as its valuation has soared to $69 billion, making it more valuable on paper than General Motors Co. and Twitter Inc. combined. 
 
 Uber's bookings—the total combined value of the fares that riders pay—were $5.4 billion in the third quarter, an increase from $5 billion in the second quarter and $3.8 billion in the first, according to the person. 
 
 The slowdown in Uber's bookings growth can at least partially be explained by the company's decision to leave China. Uber said on Aug. 1 that it came to an agreement with Didi Chuxing to exit China in exchange for 17.5 percent of the Chinese company. As part of the deal, Didi invested $1 billion in Uber. Uber's third-quarter financials don't include the business in China, which were part of the previous quarterly results. 
 
 Net revenue—the amount of money Uber generates after it pays its drivers—was $1.7 billion in the third quarter, growing from $1.1 billion in the second quarter and $960 million in the first, according to the person. 
 
 Uber's financials have leaked in dribs and drabs. The third-quarter numbers were reported earlier by the technology news site The Information. Bloomberg previously reported Uber's financial performance in the first half of this year. A spokesman for Uber declined to comment. 
 
 The company is said to have lost at least $2 billion last year and is on track to pile up a loss of at least $3 billion this year. Those are rough figures that may underestimate how much money Uber is losing and don't include interest, taxes or stock-based compensation. 
 
 Here's what we do know: Uber's loss in the first quarter of this year was about $580 million, according to the person. By the second quarter, the loss significantly exceeded $800 million, including China. That number is likely far higher. 
 
 Even in the U.S., Uber's home market, the company continues to lose money. After turning a slight profit in the in the first quarter of this year, Uber lost $100 million in the U.S. in the second quarter. The loss increased in the third quarter, the person said. Lyft, Uber's largest U.S. competitor, has promised investors that it will keep its losses below $150 million a quarter. ||||| FILE - In this July 15, 2015 file photo, Uber driver Karim Amrani sits in his car parked near the San Francisco International Airport parking area in San Francisco. Uber says it has settled a pair of... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this July 15, 2015 file photo, Uber driver Karim Amrani sits in his car parked near the San Francisco International Airport parking area in San Francisco. Uber says it has settled a pair of... (Associated Press) 
 
 LOS ANGELES (AP) — It will cost Uber up to $100 million and took some significant policy concessions, but the ride-hailing company is forging forward with its thriving business model by keeping its drivers independent contractors, for now. 
 
 Uber settled major class-action lawsuits in California and Massachusetts that sought employee status and the rights that come with it for drivers, both sides announced Thursday night. 
 
 Under the deal, Uber will pay $84 million to the plaintiffs in California and Massachusetts and another $16 million if the company goes public and meets certain goals. 
 
 In a concession touted by the plaintiffs, Uber will allow drivers to put signs in their cars saying "tips are not included" in the price of a ride and would be appreciated. Lyft, a rival ride-hailing service, allows for riders to add a tip for the driver on the app; Uber does not. 
 
 San Francisco-based Uber also agreed to improve its systems for communicating with drivers about their ratings and why they are terminated, to allow arbitration in disputes with drivers, and to help start drivers' associations in both states. 
 
 In the past, Uber could deactivate drivers without explanation. Now the company must give cause for deactivation, and certain standards such as drivers' accepting too few passengers are no longer considered grounds for being cut off by the company. 
 
 "We believe these to be very significant changes that will improve work conditions for Uber drivers," plaintiffs' attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan said in a statement on the deal. 
 
 Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said in a blog post announcing the deal that "we haven't always done a good job working with drivers," especially on the issues of deactivation and appeal. 
 
 He said with more than 450,000 drivers now working for the company, "it's time to change." 
 
 The deal settles the two largest lawsuits Uber faced, counted by the number of drivers involved. It still faces similar suits in several other states including Arizona and Florida. 
 
 Classifying its workers as employees could have increased Uber's operating expenses significantly and would go against its business model and identity. Uber's selling points for drivers are based on ideas of freedom and autonomy. 
 
 "Drivers value their independence — the freedom to push a button rather than punch a clock, to use Uber and Lyft simultaneously, to drive most of the week or for just a few hours," Kalanick said in his statement. 
 
 Federal law does not extend collective bargaining rights to independent contractors such as architects, masseuses or workers dispatched through mobile applications such as Uber and Lyft. 
 
 The settlement, which involved about 385,000 drivers in the two cases, was filed in a U.S. District Court in San Francisco. 
 
 Liss-Riordan acknowledged that some will be disappointed that the case will not go to trial in June as planned, and that attorneys had to balance the gains offered against the chance of losing. 
 
 "If we had not settled, there were some serious risks that all we have fought for — and have achieved — could be taken away," Riordan-Liss said in her statement. 
 
 One of the main risks she cited was that a jury in San Francisco, where Uber is heavily used and extremely popular, could side with the company instead of the drivers. 
 
 U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen must still sign off on the deal. 
 
 Chen had dealt the company a blow last year when he granted class-action status to the California drivers, rejecting Uber's argument that most of its drivers preferred their contractual status and therefore Uber drivers should not be considered a class. 
 
 However, he rejected that drivers should be able to sue the company for expenses in addition to tips. 
 
 Uber still faces risks that legislators and labor regulators will change employees' status. 
 
 Hours before Thursday night's announcement, a California assemblywoman withdrew a longshot proposal that would have allowed Uber drivers and all other independent contractors in California to unionize. 
 
 Assemblywoman Lorena Gonazalez, D-San Diego, said she'll make changes to her proposed legislation before trying it again next year.
– Ride-hailing giant Uber has filed confidential preliminary paperwork for selling stock to the public, the AP reports. That's according to a report late Friday in the Wall Street Journal. Citing people familiar with the matter whom it did not identify, the Journal says San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc. filed the paperwork earlier this week. That would indicate it could go public within the first three months of next year. Uber declined to comment on the Journal report. Uber's advisers have suggested the company could get a valuation of $120 billion; its latest valuation was $76 billion when it sold about a $500 million stake to Toyota in August. The filing would come on the heels of a similar move by Uber's smaller rival Lyft. The two initial public offerings could raise billions for the two companies to fuel their expansions, while giving investors their first chance to buy stakes in the ride-hailing phenomenon. (One report says 30% of Uber and Lyft drivers actually lose money driving.)