Airbnb heads to Wall Street with hefty $47bn valuation
NEW YORK: Home-sharing giant Airbnb was set for its Wall Street debut Thursday with a whopping $47 billion valuation amid a feverish rush for new shares in companies adapting to lifestyle changes imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
San Francisco-based Airbnb said it would raise some $3.4 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) by bumping up its share price to $68 heading into its stock market debut Thursday.
The company is being listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol “ABNB.”
The Airbnb debut comes just a day after meal delivery group DoorDash’s sizzling Wall Street entry with a jump of 75 percent in its first day of trading.
DoorDash made its debut with a lofty $39 billion valuation, on the heels of IPOs from others in the tech sector and on-demand economy which point to frenzied demand for the stocks.
Airbnb has said its home-sharing model proved resilient during the global pandemic, as it posted a profit of $219 million for the just-ended quarter.
The 13-year-old company, which was valued at $31 billion in its latest private funding round, is confident it will thrive over time.
“We believe that as the world recovers from this pandemic, Airbnb will be a vital source of economic empowerment for millions of people,” it said in its IPO filing.—AFP