Inman

Airbnb shoots for $35B valuation

Aditya Vyas / Unsplash and Airbnb / Wikicommons

Short-term rental giant Airbnb is aiming to price at $44 to $50 per share in its initial public offering, according to an updated S-1 filing the company submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday.

At that price, Airbnb would reach a valuation of up to $35 billion on a fully diluted basis, up from its peak private valuation in 2017 of $31 billion.

Airbnb is hoping to raise approximately $2.5 billion with the IPO, while existing investors in the company are aiming to sell about $96 million in stock with the offering.

The company first submitted paperwork for the IPO on November 16, after months of anticipation and speculation about whether or not Airbnb would succeed in filing before the end of 2020, in the wake of the travel industry’s upheaval as a result of the pandemic. At that time, Airbnb reported a net income of $219 million on $1.34 billion in revenue during the third quarter, after facing losses of more than $916 million through the end of June.

All in all, after a rocky year that included executive salary cuts and thousands of layoffs, the company made a remarkable turnaround “as work-from-home became work-from-any-home on Airbnb,” the company noted in initial filing documents.

The company’s Nasdaq ticker will be “ABNB,” and it’s expected to hold the IPO later in December. As of Tuesday, Airbnb began its roadshow of pitches to investors with an emphasis on the business’ resiliency during 2020.

With markets looking strong in the wake of positive progress toward a vaccine, some companies are capitalizing on the moment to go public. Food delivery app DoorDash also released an updated S-1 filing on Monday, and is expected to hold an IPO this month. The company is seeking a valuation of up to $32 billion.

Email Lillian Dickerson