BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com BloggingStocks http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/media/feedlogo.gif BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Zipcar Revs Up for Its IPO]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2011/04/12/zipcar-revs-up-for-its-ipo/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2011/04/12/zipcar-revs-up-for-its-ipo/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2011/04/12/zipcar-revs-up-for-its-ipo/#commentsZipcar Inc., the car-sharing company that rents rides for as little as an hour, is expected to get a warm reception from Wall Street for its planned initial public offering this week.

Its supporters think skyrocketing gas prices will make car sharing more popular. They praise Zipcar's technological savvy and its plans for overseas expansion.

Zipcar is "one of the long-awaited hot tickets in the IPO valley," said John Fitzgibbon, founder of IPOscoop.com. Investors are warming up to IPOs again after the market sputtered in 2008 and 2009.

Still, Zipcar has never been profitable since it was founded in 2000. It expects to lose money again in 2011. Cars, its main expense, don't come cheap.

The IPO's value would total about $125 million at the midpoint of its expected price range of $14 to $16 per share. Of that, the company expects proceeds of about $89 million, $46 million of which it plans to use to pay down debt.

Continue reading Zipcar Revs Up for Its IPO

Zipcar Revs Up for Its IPO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>featuredinitial public offeringipozipcarTue, 12 Apr 2011 16:45:00 EST<![CDATA[Zipcar, Flexcar merge in a pool of green assets]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/10/31/zipcar-flexcar-merge-in-a-pool-of-green-assets/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/10/31/zipcar-flexcar-merge-in-a-pool-of-green-assets/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/10/31/zipcar-flexcar-merge-in-a-pool-of-green-assets/#commentsFiled under:

The merger, announced today, between Zipcar and Flexcar (whose corporate identity is Mobility, Inc.) is a survival strategy in a business that pits our desire for a greener future against the hard reality of expensive assets and resource allocation.

I discovered Flexcar a few years ago, when a friend went to work at its Portland office. Soon I was trying the service as part of a "low car diet," giving up my car in order to walk, bike, bus, car share. I loved the idea but was struck with the high cost and relatively low efficiency of the service; in order for the service to pencil out (and pay for those many hours cars spent sitting in festively-marked parking spaces) the hourly rates for using a car were $8 to $9. When you consider a typical person's car usage -- get up in the morning, drive somewhere, leave car there for several hours, drive home, doing errands along the way -- you quickly realize it doesn't pencil out ($90-100 a day to use a car). However, if you're only using cars for very brief errands; picking up recycled lumber for your chicken coop, for instance; $20 a trip versus $300 or more each month to maintain a car, works out.

So it's economical for an individual who makes (say) a couple of monthly jaunts to an out-of-town picnic site or party each month, one errand around town in a week, and a weekend bed & breakfast getaway every year. It's sensible for corporations who would rather put the liability involved with company vehicles on another entity. But does it pencil out for the asset and liability holder: Flexcar and its chief competitor, Zipcar?

Continue reading Zipcar, Flexcar merge in a pool of green assets

Zipcar, Flexcar merge in a pool of green assets originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 31 Oct 2007 13:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>carsharingfeaturedflexcarFlexcarAndZipcarmergemergermobilityzipcarWed, 31 Oct 2007 13:41:00 EST