New Uber CFO Nelson Chai suggests 2019 IPO might not happen

Nelson
Chai, pictured in 2007.
Chris
Trotman/Getty Images For NASCAR

• Incoming Uber CFO Nelson Chai has suggested the company
  might not go public in 2019.
• The $69 billion transportation firm has been aiming for
  a 2019 IPO for a while — Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi even
  reiterated that plan earlier this year. 
• But Chai said that “I can’t say I’m on board yet with
  going public next year,” suggesting there may be further
  delays.

Uber’s incoming chief financial officer CFO Nelson Chai has
suggested the transportation firm may not go public in 2019 after
all.

On Tuesday, Uber
announced that it had appointed Chai, a Wall Street veteran, to
the long-vacant post of CFO as it gears up for a long-awaited
IPO in 2019, a stated goal of the company. But
speaking to Axios, the new executive implied that the timing
of the IPO wasn’t a done deal just yet.

“The company has made comments about it, but I can’t say I’m on
board yet with going public next year,” he said. “I’ve been
impressed with the information I’ve seen, but I don’t have enough
insight until I really get in there to make sure we have the
right processes and controls to be a public company.”

Reached for comment, Uber spokesperson Matt Kallman downplayed
Chai’s remarks and said Uber is still “on track” to go public in
2019.

“As you might expect (and hope), Nelson was taking a
conservative approach in his first interviews, as he hasn’t
started yet (his first day is Sep 10),” he told Business Insider
in an email. “We’re on track for an IPO next year.”

Uber has been working hard to resuscitate its public image in
recent months, after a chain of bruising scandals — from a
culture of sexism to allegations of trade secret theft — that
culminated in an executive exodus and the ousting of founder and
then-CEO Travis Kalanick. 

Kalanick’s replacement as CEO,
Dara Khosrowshahi, is attempting to right the
ship,
and said the company is aiming to go public in 2019 as recently
as May of this year.

“I’m incredibly excited to bring on someone as experienced
and thoughtful as Nelson,”Khosrowshahi said in a statement when
Chai’s hire was announced. “He will be a great partner for me and
the entire management team as we move towards becoming a public
company.”

With a $69 billion valuation in its last venture capital
investment round,
Uber is the most valuable privately owned technology company in
the word today, and investors have been awaiting the
inevitable IPO for years.