Airbnb IPO Filing Shows Q3 Earnings Beating Virus With Cost Cuts, New Focus

Business Standard Airbnb IPO filing shows Q3 earnings beating virus with cost cuts, new focus

The filing showed a dramatic recovery in its fortunes, after the coronavirus outbreak dragged down its core home rental business during the first half of the year.

By Anirban Sen and Joshua Franklin (Reuters) - Airbnb Inc's initial public offering (IPO) registration showed on Monday that the home rental startup turned a profit in the third quarter despite the COVID-19 pandemic, as it gears up for one of the most anticipated stock market debuts in recent years.

The filing, published ahead of Airbnb's anticipated stock market debut in December, showed a dramatic recovery in its fortunes, after the coronavirus outbreak dragged down its core home rental business during the first half of the year.

The slump forced it to lay off 25% of its workforce in May, suspend marketing activities for the year and seek $2 billion (ÂŁ1.5 billion) emergency funding from investors, including Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners, at a valuation of $18 billion. It has recovered by focusing on listing homes away from cities that people want to rent during the pandemic.

Airbnb's revenue fell 18% in the third quarter to $1.34 billion from a year earlier, but it reported net profit of about $219 million, helped mainly by a clamp-down on costs. Its business took a bigger hit internationally than in the United States, reflecting the financial fallout of extensive lockdowns in Europe to contain the spread of the virus.

"The recovery in the second and third quarters of 2020 is attributable to the renewed ability and willingness for guests to travel, the resilience of our hosts, and relative strength of our business model," Airbnb said.

The listing would cap a blockbuster year for IPOs, as companies capitalize on a stock market rally in the second half of the year, fueled by monetary as well as fiscal stimulus in a bid to blunt the fallout of the pandemic.