Uber Allows Its Drivers To Buy Its Stock With Their Cash Reward

These days Uber is all about preparation for its very anticipated public debut. The company is working on a kind of new reward for its driver. However, this reward is exclusive for those Ubers drivers that have been sticking with the company for a long time and have serious rides under their belts. This move from Uber is considered to follow its competitor Lyft. Back when Lyft went public it also gave out cash bonuses for its high-performance drivers.

From the stock pool of the company, Uber is setting aside a considerable amount of common stock shares. These stocks are set at the IPO stock price. The company will give out the buying option for these stocks to drivers who have received the “appreciation award” in cash.

Respectively, Ubers' drivers who have completed  20,000, 10,000,  5,000 and  2,500 of lifetime trips will get $10,000, $1,000, $500,and $100. The extra requirement is that the drivers will also need to complete a minimum of one ride in 2019 by April 7. Moreover, they also need to be "in good standing" on the platform. Uber has yet to clarify what that term means.

This "appreciation awards for driver” of Uber are somewhat identical to the move of Lyft back when it had its public offering. At that time, Lyft awarded its drivers who had completed 20,000 and 10,000 rides with $10,000 and $1,000 respectively.

The only difference between the two giant in the car-hailing industry is that Uber has more small cash bonuses for less-achieving drivers. Also on the basis of its global operation, Uber confirmed that for the drivers that locate outside of US, they can be tweaked among different regions to take into account differences in average earnings per hour.