In filing yet more papers with the US Securities and Exchange Commission recently, Zipcar took the final step in its long process to sell equity shares to the public. April 14 is the day when the marketplace will first say what Zipcar is worth.
Since this is a carsharing industry blog, you may well be wondering why I have been so silent on such a major milestone in the carsharing world. The reason is I'm a Zipcar stockholder. (I got my tiny amount of shares as a co-founder of Flexcar and with the so-called "merger" of Flexcar and Zipcar, they became Zipcar shares.) Under SEC rules, during the IPO process current shareholders must observe a "quiet period", so I have kept my comments to myself. Like other industry observers, I've been fascinated by the operational detail revealed in Zipcar's SEC filings.
The whole IPO process has been a long and involved, with detours to buy Streetcar in London and invest in Avancar in Barcelona, but hopefully the IPO will have a good outcome. Although competitors might wish differently, a successful Zipcar IPO will be another sign that the world is ready for alternatives to cars and car ownership.
