Boston Real Estate
Airbnb Revenues Fall
Airbnb’s revenue fell by a reported 67 percent in the second quarter, as the startup weathered the fallout from a halt in global travel.
The company’s quarterly revenue plunged to $335 million — down from more than $1 billion in the same period last year, according to Bloomberg, which cited sources familiar with the matter.
By contrast, Airbnb generated $842 million in sales in the first quarter, the publication said.
The company reportedly posted a second-quarter loss before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of $400 million. In the first quarter, the adjusted loss was reported as $341 million — up from a loss of $292 million in the same period of the prior year.
Airbnb Public Offering
Despite the dismal results, Airbnb is proceeding with a 2020 public offering and plans to file paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission as early as this month.
Airbnb had initially planned to start the process in March but shelved those plans because of the pandemic. Morgan Stanley has been selected to lead the offering, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The company that goes public will be fundamentally different than the one that announced its plans for an IPO last year. In May, Airbnb laid off almost 2,000 employees and saw its valuation fall to $18 billion from $31 billion. In an interview with CNBC in June, CEO Brian Chesky acknowledged that after 12 years of building the business, “we lost almost all of it in a matter of four to six weeks.”
The company has since reported an uptick in bookings, as travel restrictions loosen and quarantine-weary residents explore domestic options. According to Airbnb, guests booked more than one million nights of future stays on July 8 — the highest level since March 3.
