Airbnb is planning to file paperwork for its long anticipated IPO later this month reports The Wall Street Journal. Airbnb was recently valued at $18 billion down from $31 billion three years ago.
The company has gone through a tumultuous 2020 as the short term rental market got hit in March with the travel shutdown due to Covid-19. The market then rebounded in later spring, boosted by people’s desire to travel locally — within driving distance from their homes.
The rebound was faster than expected but it is not surprising given the pent-up demand. Vacation rentals have been leading the recovery instead of hotels because travelers, particularly those living in cities, wanted to get away and leisure destinations fit their longing for space and change of scenery.
We reported in July that Airbnb is becoming more confident that its business has returned since the early days of the pandemic. At that time, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky told employees that the company was “resuming work” to go public.
This year seems to be a good time to go public. The current market conditions have been favorable for tech IPOs with $60 billion raised so far in 2020, the highest level since the 2000 tech boom, according to Dealogic.
Morgan Stanley is leading the IPO with Goldman Sachs playing a key role.
