Airbnb to reveal its financials next week ahead of IPO

The home-rental start-up is aiming to raise as much as $3bn in an IPO before year end

Airbnb's listing will come in a tight window for public debuts during an eventful year. Reuters

Airbnb is opening its books as soon as next Thursday ahead of a much-anticipated initial public offering, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The home-rental start-up, which said in August it filed confidentially for a listing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, will show the public the listing documents and its financial information for the first time as it seeks to woo investors. Airbnb is aiming to raise as much as $3 billion in an IPO before year end, Bloomberg has reported. Timing of the IPO filing could still change, said the people, who declined to be named discussing private information.

Airbnb’s listing will come in a tight window for public debuts during an eventful year. Covid-19 has led companies to think twice before tapping the market, while the holiday calendar in the remainder of the year means there is a shorter time frame to get deals done.

A representative for Airbnb declined to comment. Reuters earlier reported on the filing coming next week.

While Airbnb had been sending incremental updates to the market signaling its debut is on the way, such as announcing that it has chosen Nasdaq Global Select Market to host its listing, the public filing will serve as the key milestone. It will be allowed to start taking orders for shares from investors 15 days after the documents are available.

The San Francisco-based company was valued at $18bn in April when it raised $2bn in debt from investors at the depth of the pandemic. That was a significant drop from its earlier peak valuation of $31bn in a 2017 fundraising round.

A quicker-than-expected rebound from the pandemic has brought the company’s valuation back to $22bn at end of September, based on the value of its common shares at a recent stock split, Bloomberg News reported.