The filing showed a
dramatic recovery in its fortunes, after the coronavirus outbreak dragged down
its core home rental business during the first half of the year.
By Anirban Sen and Joshua
Franklin
(Reuters) - Airbnb Inc's initial
public offering (IPO) registration showed on Monday that the home rental
startup turned a profit in the third quarter despite the COVID-19 pandemic, as
it gears up for one of the most anticipated stock market debuts in recent
years.
The filing, published ahead
of Airbnb's
anticipated stock market debut in December, showed a dramatic recovery in its
fortunes, after the coronavirus outbreak dragged down its core home rental
business during the first half of the year.
The slump forced it to lay
off 25% of its workforce in May, suspend marketing activities for the year and
seek $2 billion (£1.5 billion) emergency funding from investors, including
Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners, at a valuation of $18 billion. It has
recovered by focusing on listing homes away from cities that people want to
rent during the pandemic.
Airbnb's revenue fell 18%
in the third quarter to $1.34 billion from a year earlier, but it reported net
profit of about $219 million, helped mainly by a clamp-down on costs. Its
business took a bigger hit internationally than in the United States,
reflecting the financial fallout of extensive lockdowns in Europe to contain
the spread of the virus.
"The recovery in the
second and third quarters of 2020 is attributable to the renewed ability and
willingness for guests to travel, the resilience of our hosts, and relative
strength of our business model," Airbnb said.
The listing would cap a
blockbuster year for IPOs, as companies capitalize on a stock market rally in
the second half of the year, fueled by monetary as well as fiscal stimulus in a
bid to blunt the fallout of the pandemic.
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