Airbnb Prices at $68 a Share, Setting the Stage for ABNB to Be Travel’s Biggest IPO Ever

Airbnb Inc on Wednesday sold shares in its initial public offering (IPO) on Wednesday at $68 apiece, above its targeted price range, to raise around $3.5 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The IPO gives Airbnb a fully diluted valuation — which includes securities such as options and restricted stock units — of $47.3 billion, capping a turnaround in fortunes for the U.S. home rental firm that was hit hard by travel restrictions used to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.

Airbnb had planned to sell around 51 million shares at $56 to $60 apiece, having raised this range from an earlier target of $44 to $50 per share.

Airbnb’s IPO is the biggest by a U.S. operating company in 2020 in what has been an active year for U.S. listings, with the likes of DoorDash Inc and Snowflake Inc going public.

Check out the latest Skift Research report: Exploring the Airbnb Paradox 

The share offering also marks a dramatic comeback for Airbnb after it suffered a sharp drop in bookings and an increase in cancellations as the coronavirus spread across the world nine months ago, forcing governments to impose travel bans and mandate social distancing guidelines.

The company’s shares are scheduled to start trading on Nasdaq on Thursday under the ticker “ABNB.”

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are the lead underwriters for Airbnb’s offering.

(Reporting by Joshua Franklin in Miami and Chibuike Oguh in New York Editing by Chris Reese and Grant McCool)

This article was written by Joshua Franklin and Chibuike Oguh from Reuters and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].