Hopper Plans to Stay Private for Now With $5 Billion Valuation

What's one of the best ways to land a job or sell a company? Tell pursuers that you were planning to do no such thing.

That comes to mind with the news Thursday that air and hotel — and most recently — vacation rental app Hopper executed a $35 million secondary sale of its shares at a $5 billion valuation. Incidentally, although it hasn't been announced, Skift reported that Hopper is hiring developers to transition from an app-only booking platform to desktop in a bid to potentially expand its millennial and Gen Z user base, as well.

That new $5 billion private valuation — and we all know how hyped up some of those can be — amounted to a $1.5 billion leap from six months ago when Hopper last raised funds.

Hopper did the secondary sale, which was first reported by TechCrunch, to enable some employees and investors to cash stock options and sta