Uber’s IPO Disclosures Leave One Big Unanswered Question

In one week, anyone will be able to buy stock in Uber Technologies Inc. The run-up to this long-awaited initial public offering has revealed a lot about its business that we did not know and some things we did know. (Getting charged with a crime is bad, for example.) But perhaps the most important remaining mystery—for the future of the company, others like it, the global economy and, frankly, society—is how this company is reshaping the concept of a job.

What we can work out from disclosures around the IPO is that this is a pretty substantial company. We know what Uber thinks it’s worth right now: as much as $84 billion, or maybe more. We know how Wall Street is valuing this cash-burning machine: The first analyst targets are $53 to $65 a share, well above the company’s current IPO range. We know how many Uber drivers there are: 3.9 million. And we have a similar picture of Lyft Inc., owner of the next-biggest ride-hailing app in the North America and a publicly traded entity as of a month ago.