The ride hailing service Uber says it will make its highly anticipated initial public offering of stock on the NYSE exchange in New York, according to reports.

Bloomberg news was the first to report Uber would opt for the Wall Street exchange over the tech-heavy Nasdaq, where the rival ride-hailing service Lyft will do is IPO.  Uber's IPO in April could be valued as high as US$120 Billion, which works out to more than AU$186.8 Billion.

That could be the biggest IPO of 2019, and it is despite Uber's controversies, which include: opposition from traditional taxis and private drivers in more than 60 countries; legal action in the UK and US over its classification of drivers as self-employed contractors, rather than as workers; sex harassment; data breaches; and the use of software to defeat local laws.

Lyft's IPO is expected next week.  Its value will be much lower than Uber's at US$23 Billion, according to the company's updated registration statement released on Monday.