The Time Uber Passed on Lyft And Other Deals That Never Were

When Lyft Inc. holds its hotly anticipated initial public offering Thursday afternoon, the company is expected to begin trading with a market cap of more than $20 billion. The IPO will cement Lyft’s place as an important antagonist to its larger rival Uber Technologies Inc., which is slated to go public soon after. But the rivalry only tips over into the realm of Greek drama when you consider that Uber previously passed on the opportunity to buy Lyft -- multiple times.

Uber declined to do a deal in 2014 over pricing disputes. That’s back when Lyft was worth less than $1 billion. Uber’s co-founder Travis Kalanick later said he had no regrets, though, and in 2016 added he didn’t want to buy Lyft at all because of antitrust concerns -- but that he especially wouldn’t pay more than $2 billion. The company at the time was said to be seeking as much as $9 billion.