Airbnb aims for near-$35bn valuation in long-awaited IPO

Airbnb said on Tuesday that it was aiming for a market valuation of up to $34.8 billion (€28.8 billion) in its initial public offering (IPO). It would cap a stunning recovery in fortunes after the short-term rental group's business was heavily damaged by the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this year.

In a regulatory filing, Airbnb set a target price range of between $44 and $50 apiece to sell 51.9 million shares, which would pull in $2.6 billion. Airbnb could end up selling $2.85 billion at the upper end of the range.

Of the shares being sold, Airbnb founders Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk will together sell nearly $100 million worth of shares in the IPO launch.

Surprise profit

Airbnb struggled in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic as travel came to a grinding halt. It had to lay off a quarter of its workforce and seek $2 billion in emergency funding from investors, including private equity firms Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners.

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But as lockdowns eased, more travellers opted to book homes instead of hotels, helping Airbnb post a surprise profit for the third quarter.

Airbnb’s market capitalisation at $50 per share would total $29.8 billion. Chesky’s stake would be valued at about $3.8 billion, while those of Gebbia and Blecharczyk would be worth about $3.5 billion each. Sequoia Capital, which first invested in Airbnb in 2009, would have a stake worth more than $4 billion.