Airbnb files for its long-awaited IPO

Airbnb on Monday filed for a $1 billion initial public offering, which is expected to price in December.

Financials: Airbnb reports nearly a $700 million net loss on $2.5 billion in revenue for the first nine months of 2020, versus a $322 million net loss on $3.7 billion in revenue for the year earlier period. But it also reports $219 million in profits for the third quarter of 2020, as bookings rebounded.

---

What Airbnb is saying:

"In early 2020, as COVID-19 disrupted travel across the world, Airbnb’s business declined significantly. But within two months, our business model started to rebound even with limited international travel, demonstrating its resilience. People wanted to get out of their homes and yearned to travel, but they did not want to go far or to be in crowded hotel lobbies. Domestic travel quickly rebounded on Airbnb around the world as millions of guests took trips closer to home. Stays of longer than a few days started increasing as work-from-home became work-from-any-home on Airbnb. We believe that the lines between travel and living are blurring, and the global pandemic has accelerated the ability to live anywhere."

The company also provided more granular detail of what it says was the pandemic's impact on its business:

Source: Airbnb S-1 filing

Investors: Airbnb raised approximately $6.4 billion from venture capital and private equity firms. It was valued at $31 billion in a late 2017 round, but at only $18 billion when it secured an emergency equity and debt round in the pandemic's early days.

• Major shareholders include Silver Lake, Sequoia Capital, Sixth Street, Founders Fund, Accel, DST Global and Greystar Real Estate.
• The company had around $4.5 billion of cash on its balance sheet, though the end of September.

IPO details: Airbnb plans to list on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol ABNB, with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as lead managers.

• It's unclear if Airbnb plans to raise around $1 billion, or if that's just a placeholder figure that will be fleshed out more in an amended filing.

Coming attractions: Other big tech companies expected to file for IPOs this week include Affirm, Roblox and Wish.

Go deeper: Airbnb's IPO will cap off its resilient rebound