Is Airbnb’s Stock Market Debut in 2020 Still On Track?
Photo Credit: Pictured is a business traveler at a property listed on Airbnb. The company showed a net loss for the first nine months of 2019. Airbnb
Skift Take
Sporting some red ink in its financial results doesn't spell doom and gloom for Airbnb's prospects of going public in 2020. On the other hand, the question for employees and investors becomes — at what valuation?
Did Airbnb's hopes of going public in 2020 just become way more complicated?
That question seems valid now after Airbnb's financial results reportedly swung from a profit a year earlier to a $322 million loss during the first nine months of 2019.
A Wall Street Journal report Tuesday raised doubts about that scenario with news that from January through September in 2019 Airbnb notched a $322 million net loss compared with a $200 million profit for the first nine months of 2018. The Journal obtained the information from what it said were sources close the company.
But a source familiar with the short-term rental giant's thinking said its plans to go public haven't changed, and that Airbnb still intends to secure its stock market symbol, and start trading on an exchange this year.
Looking at just the third quarter, rising costs lowered Airbnb's profits 29.4 percent to $266 million, according to the report. Revenue in the third quarter rose roughly 30 percent to $1.65 billion.
