Airbnb stories enormous loss in first outing as public firm

Home-sharing web site Airbnb posted a $3.9 billion loss within the fourth quarter of 2020 because it suffered from the pandemic downturn in journey and recorded one-time prices for changing into a public firm.
In outcomes launched Thursday — Airbnb’s first as a publicly traded entity — the corporate took a cost of $2.8 billion for inventory compensation associated to the IPO. A 12 months earlier, Airbnb misplaced $352 million.
Revenue fell 22% to $859 million within the quarter that ended Dec. 31. That was nonetheless greater than analysts anticipated, in accordance with a FactSet survey, and a much smaller proportion decline than reported by rivals Expedia, Tripadvisor and Bookings Holdings.

Airbnb declined to supply a forecast for 2021 revenue and income. Company executives mentioned they’re upbeat a couple of restoration, however they mentioned the unknown tempo of vaccinations make it troublesome to understand how rapidly folks can be keen to journey. The firm did say income won’t decline as a lot within the present quarter because it did within the fourth quarter of final 12 months.
In late January, Airbnb mentioned a survey it commissioned confirmed that simply over half of Americans have already booked a visit or plan to journey this 12 months.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Airbnb has shifted its focus to seashore cities and mountain locations — outdoorsy locations the place the danger of contracting the coronavirus is perceived to be decrease. The firm expects leases in large cities to return again final.
It has additionally slashed prices and jobs to journey out the pandemic, very similar to airways and others within the journey business.
CEO Brian Chesky mentioned his firm will profit from modifications in journey and jobs as many individuals work from someplace aside from the workplace — possibly a rental removed from residence.
“When travel comes back, we believe it will look different than before,” Chesky mentioned on a name with analysts. “People are living more nomadically. Some people are taking longer-term stays, one or two months at a time in Airbnb.”
The firm is relying on including hosts. It believes that individuals who ebook long-term leases can even flip to Airbnb to hire their empty houses.
For all of 2020, Airbnb misplaced almost $4.6 billion together with the cost for stock-based compensation and a separate cost of $827 million for inventory warrants tied to a mortgage. That in contrast with a 2019 lack of $674 million. Even as income elevated, the corporate additionally misplaced cash in 2017 and 2018 because it spent closely on advertising and know-how and added new traces to the enterprise.
Despite the years of losses, Airbnb generated sky-high expectations from buyers, which led to a successful debut on the inventory market in December, when its shares greater than doubled the San Francisco-based firm’s goal worth and gave it a valuation of simply over $100 billion. At $3.7 billion, it was the largest U.S. IPO in 2020, in accordance with Renaissance Capital.
Airbnb faces challenges, together with opposition from motels. Some cities have stepped up restrictions on short-term leases. Critics say Airbnb contributes to increased rents and residential costs in some markets. Some of the corporate’s hosts aren’t simply sharing their houses, they’re turning them into companies catering to vacationers, lowering the provision of housing for native residents, in accordance with some researchers.

Before the discharge of economic outcomes, the corporate’s shares fell 9.1% to shut at $182.06. They rose lower than 1% in after-hours buying and selling.