Airbnb announces it will go public in 2020 – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports

By Judy J. Beasley Last updated Oct 7, 2022

NEW YORK (AP) — Home-sharing company Airbnb Inc. announced Thursday that it plans to go public in 2020.

It’s a long-awaited move for the San Francisco company, founded in 2008 by Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, who needed the extra cash to fit air mattresses on their apartment floors and charge $80 a night.

Since then, Airbnb has become one of the largest home sharing platforms. The company said earlier this week that it has more than 7 million listings in 100,000 cities around the world.

Airbnb also said it made “substantially more than” $1 billion in revenue in the second quarter of this year, the second time in its history that revenue exceeded $1 billion. He did not disclose his profits.

Investors may be cautious after a few big IPO flops this year. Ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft made their market debuts earlier this year, but they continue to lose money and both are trading well below their IPO prices. WeWork, which manages shared office space, delayed its IPO earlier this week.

Airbnb has spent the past few years expanding its offerings ahead of an expected IPO. In May, he bought Hotel Tonight to help customers find last-minute hotel deals. In 2017, it acquired Luxury Retreats to raise the standard of its accommodations. And it’s added “experiences” to its platform so customers can book local tours, cooking classes and other activities.

But Airbnb has faced backlash in places like New York and Barcelona, Spain, where it has been accused of encouraging overtourism and raising rents because it takes living space off the market. .