Airbnb Prices IPO at $68 a Share, which Brings Its Valuation to $47 Billion

Airbnb Prices IPO at $68 a Share, which Brings Its Valuation to $47 Billion

Darya Rudz By Darya Rudz Updated 3 min read
Airbnb Prices IPO at $68 a Share, which Brings Its Valuation to $47 Billion
Photo: Depositphotos

Airbnb starts trading today on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol “ABNB.”

US vacation rental online marketplace platform Airbnb has made its Initial Public Offering (IPO) debut. The company sold its shares at $68 per each, which is much higher than the originally set price. The pricing sets a valuation for Airbnb of about $47 billion and makes its IPO the largest IPO of the year.

Airbnb submitted its IPO filing on November 16. Initially, the company set the price range per share between $44 and $50 and targeted to raise $2.5 billion. On Monday, December 7, Airbnb raised it to $56 to $60 per share. The company has already sold 51.5 million shares, topping all the Wall Street expectations and raising $3.5 billion.

Airbnb starts trading today on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol “ABNB.”

Airbnb is not the only company running an IPO. Another start-up DoorDash has also boosted its earlier projected market valuation. The US on-demand prepared food delivery service company debuted on the stock exchange a day earlier than Airbnb. DoorDash sold its shares in the IPO at $102 per each, higher than the expected $90 to $95 range. In other words, its shares soared by as much as 86% on the first day of trading. The company has already raised $3.4 billion.

Airbnb: Increasing Valuation amid Coronavirus Ups and Downs

Airbnb is a San Francisco-based vacation rental online marketplace company that connects travelers and hosts around the world. Since its founding in 2008, Airbnb has been rapidly growing. Now the company operates in roughly 35 000 cities and in 200 countries. In 2019, the company had 54 million active customers and 247 million guest arrivals.

When the coronavirus pandemic broke out, the travel industry has been hit. Airbnb business suffered as well. In April, the company announced its plan to lay off 25% of its staff, or nearly 1,900 employees, as a part of a cost-cutting initiative. In addition, Airbnb reduced marketing expenses, cut 2020 bonuses, and reduced executive salaries for six months.

The company reported a 67% plunge in revenue for the second quarter of 2020. For Q3 2020, Airbnb made $219 million in net income on revenues of $1.34 billion. That was a 19% decline from $1.65 billion in revenue a year ago. Thus far in 2020, the company has turned a net loss of nearly $697 million on revenues of $2.52 billion.

The company has obviously suffered but managed to survive. Now, it is on the way to full recovery, and we can see it on a successful IPO. In a letter to shareholders, the company’s co-founders said the 10 months since the pandemic started have been “the most defining period since we started Airbnb.”

Darya Rudz
Author Darya Rudz

Darya is a crypto enthusiast who strongly believes in the future of blockchain. Being a hospitality professional, she is interested in finding the ways blockchain can change different industries and bring our life to a different level.

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