Airbnb, the massively popular do-it-yourself accommodation rental site operator, is seeking to raise roughly $3 billion in its initial public offering (IPO). That’s according to a report published last Friday by Reuters, which cited “people familiar with the matter.”
If it draws that amount of capital from investors, Airbnb’s total valuation could reach more than $30 billion. That’s well above the $18 billion valuation it was tagged with following a round of capital raising in April, when the company secured $2 billion in debt funding.
On Aug. 19, Airbnb — long rumored to be an IPO candidate — announced it had confidentially filed the regulatory paperwork for such an issue with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to Reuters, the company plans to make this filing public after the Nov. 3 election. The actual IPO would come in the following month.
Image source: Getty Images.
2020 has been an up-and-down year for Airbnb. Like certain other companies in the travel industry, it suffered at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but has since recovered on the back of “staycation” activities and the desire of people to escape quasi-quarantine and make local or regional travel escapes.
If and when Airbnb hits the stock market, its arrival will surely impact other major travel companies like Booking Holdings and Expedia Group, the duopoly that lords over the online travel agency (OTA) sector.
While both Booking Holdings and Expedia operate healthy DIY accommodation subsidies, their core business is the provision of more traditional travel services such as flight bookings and package tours. Investors in either, or in other companies in the sector, should keep an eye on how those stocks react on further news of the Airbnb IPO.
