Investors hitch a ride on Lyft's IPO at $72 a share

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Lyft had little trouble getting investors to hop on board its increasingly popular ride-hailing service, as its initial public offering fetched a $72 per-share price that exceeded even its own expectations.

The next big test comes Friday morning when the San Francisco company's stock will begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol "LYFT."

It will mark the first time that most people who have used their smartphone to summon a car dispatched by Lyft or its bigger rival, Uber, will have a chance to make a bet on whether the ride-hailing phenomenon will continue to transform transportation and eventually become a major money maker.

The institutional investors that bought into the IPO clearly think so, enabling Lyft to demand a price that was above its initial goal of $62 to $68 per share.