The much-anticipated Uber initial public offering managed to break a record, but not one that investors would have hoped for.

The stock closed down 6.7% on its opening day to $US41.70, down from the $US45 a share the company priced at on Thursday night ahead of the IPO that had valued the company at $US75.5 billion.

In total, the discount off the IPO price meant that investors who got in at that price saw a cumulative loss of $US655 million. By the end of day Friday, Uber had a market cap of $US69.7 billion, far below the $US120 billion valuation figure bankers had suggested in 2018.

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That made it the biggest first-day dollar loss of a US IPO, Jay Ritter, a professor at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business told Business Insider. Ritter’s figures accounted for IPOs from 1975 on.

Percentage-wise, other IPOs have suffered far worse opening day closes. Ritter said on a percentage basis, Uber’s first day ranks as the 99th worst open for IPOs raising more than $US100 million. It’s the combination of the drop and the size of the IPO in the first place that makes it the biggest first-day dollar loss.

Prior to Friday, the largest first-day dollar loss of a US IPO was in 2000 when Genuity, an internet company spun out of Verizon, went public. On its first day, Wall Street Journal reporter Rolfe Winkler noted, Genuity had lost $US233 million. That makes Uber’s first-day dollar losses almost three times as much.

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Sure, Uber didn’t leave any money on the table, but its IPO was nothing to celebrate and it could haunt the company and its execs for years to come

Uber’s IPO came during a particularly turbulent week as tensions elevated between the US and China. The timing may have cost the company billions.

Alexei Oreskovic contributed reporting.

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