UPDATED 21:41 EST / NOVEMBER 05 2020

APPS

Report: Airbnb could release details next week for a December IPO

Airbnb Inc. is planning to make its initial public offering registration public as early as next week ahead of a float in December, according to a report today from Reuters.

Citing people familiar with the matter, Reuters says Airbnb is planning to kick off an investor roadshow in December as well as setting an IPO price range, but the timing is subject to market conditions.

Airbnb has been reported to be looking to go public for years with the company saying in September 2019 that it planned to go public in 2020. Then COVID-19 happened with countries closing their borders and locking down populations, hitting Airbnb exceptionally hard.

With its IPO plans delayed, the company raised $2 billion in two tranches – $1 billion April 6 in a combination of debt and equity and $1 billion more April 15 through a line of credit to help it weather the downturn. Airbnb then laid off 25% of its employees on May 5 in an attempt to stem losses.

Reports of Airbnb considering going ahead with its IPO despite COVID-19 emerged in June as lockdowns began to ease in some countries. The company confirmed Sept. 19 that it had filed its paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Although Airbnb said in September its second-quarter revenue passed $1 billion and that through September bookings continued to rise, that was before the second wave of COVID-19. Most of the U.S. remains open, but many countries in Europe are imposing new lockdowns and closing their borders, meaning travel and hence accommodation bookings are going to take another major hit.

Despite the ongoing uncertainty, Reuters believes that Airbnb will seek to raise around $3 billion in its IPO on a valuation of more than $30 billion. How that plays out will depend on how whether growth in markets such as China, which remains coronavirus free as well as in other countries which are starting to open, particularly in East Asia and Oceania can counter drops in bookings across Europe.

Coming into its IPO, Airbnb has raised $6.4 billion, according to Crunchbase, from investors that include Andreessen Horowitz, Manhattan Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, TCV, Firstmark and Altimeter Capital.

Photo: opengridscheduler/Flickr

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