Airbnb has confirmed that it has filed an initial public offering (IPO) application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. However, Airbnb has not yet confirmed the actual target size of the IPO and the price per share.
In 2017, Airbnb's market capitalization reached approximately $310 billion. However, this year, the coronavirus pandemic has significantly reduced demand for accommodations, including for travel and business trips, forcing Airbnb to issue $20 billion in bonds to maintain operations. This has also reduced Airbnb's market capitalization to $180 billion. By choosing to go public at this time, Airbnb clearly needs to prove to investors that it can still reverse losses and maintain profitability despite the continued impact of the pandemic.
In the original plan, AirbnbAlready prepared for IPO, but the listing plan was postponed due to the impact of the epidemic. Even before, due to the sharp drop in revenue, Airbnb had to significantly reduce expenses and lay off nearly 2000 employees. At the same time, it raised funds through issuing bonds to maintain operations.
However, as the epidemic situation was partially alleviated, tourism businesses in some regions began to resume operations, causing Airbnb's revenue to return to normal starting in May this year. At the same time, accommodation bookings also returned to last year's performance, allowing Airbnb to resume its IPO plan.
