Airbnb intends to go public in 2020, as it passes 7m listings worldwide

Airbnb intends to go public in 2020, as it passes 7m listings worldwide
By Christian Fleetwood


Airbnb has announced its intention to go public during 2020, as the company surpasses seven million listings worldwide.

In a brief statement, Airbnb announced it expects to become a publicly-traded company “during 2020”. This comes after the San Francisco based company recorded record revenue in the second quarter of 2019.

In the second quarter of 2019, Airbnb reported it recognised “substantially” more than US $1 billion in revenue, marking only the second time in its history where revenue has exceeded US $1 billion, but did not reveal whether it was profitable.

Market analysts said they believe Airbnb may receive a warmer welcome from investors than Uber or Lyft, both of whose shares fared poorly after launching and invoked “investor scepticism” over their path to profitability, as reported by Reuters.

“I think it’ll be a whole different reception for Airbnb, assuming that they can show they’re a profitable business without having to lose money on marketing,” Kathleen Smith, principal at Renaissance Capital, told Reuters.

Around six guests every second check-in to an Airbnb listing, according to the rental service.

In a separate report, the company claims hosts have earned more than $80 billion sharing their homes and spaces on Airbnb, as of 15 September 2019.

The rental service reported a milestone, claiming there are now seven million listings in over 100,000 cities around the world. Adding to this, it said host and guest communities have benefited local economies, generating over $100 billion in estimated direct economic impact across 30 countries in 2018 alone, the company said.

As of June 1, 2019, the rental service claims to have collected over $1.6 billion in transient occupancy taxes (TOT) on behalf of its community around the world.

Furthermore, the rental service reported that in the past year, more than 300 cities have welcomed over 100,000 guest arrivals at Airbnb listings.

In 2019, Airbnb reported nearly 1,000 cities around the world have more than 1,000 Airbnb listings. In 2011, only 12 cities had more than 1,000 listings, according to the rental service.

Recently, data from photo-printing service Inkifi revealed which cities globally host the most Airbnb listings.

London has the most Airbnb listings in the world by far, with 59,378 listings at time of publishing, followed by Paris (34,395), New York City (34,187), Shanghai (30,250) and Beijing (26,750).

Sydney and Melbourne ranked ninth and 10th respectively, with 22,604 listings in Sydney and 19,955 in Melbourne.

The city with the lowest concentration of Airbnb listings is Naypyidaw, Myanmar with only five properties, followed by Kuwait City, Kuwait (8), Vaduz, Liechtenstein (11), San Marino, San Marino (17) and Port Louis, Mauritius (17).

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