I'm convinced Airbnb will never actually go public. They said they won't this year, despite having been "2 years from an IPO" for the last three years and fired the CTO who was supposed to take them public, so they aren't in any rush to IPO. But why woul they ever?
Companies go public maybe for two reasons:
1) They need to raise capital, but Airbnb is profitable and has billions on hand.
2) Early investors with board seats want to cash out, but Airbnb has already cashed a bunch of them out and can keep doing private rounds to roll over investors.
Additionally, if they did IPO,
1) Brian Cheeky might have to answer to investors, and probably wouldn't get free reign for "moonshots"
2) They would have to file financials which could only give regulators/local government more ammunition against home sharing.
3) They would need to give out stock to former employees with RSUs, which they just don't have to if they never go public.
It seems like an obvious choice. Eventually they'll have to change comp to attract new employees, but till then they have the perfect set up; promise new employees RSUs that will never be worth. something.
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There are so many problems in this space, but I haven't seen any innovation from Airbnb in the past 3 years. Their pleas for "authenticity" are hollow, for now. Hoping they have something up their sleeves. I'd much rather participate in a free, social event connecting locals and tourists, along the lines of a hostel rooftop bar for 30-somethings in a foreign city, than head straight to the highest-rated bar near my hotel (which is just as inauthentic), but there's a long way to go.
Selection has diminished, and now there are all kinds of tricks, like pictures of properties that are years old. That wouldn't even be a problem if properties were well maintained. As other good customers of the past, I'm going elsewhere, which will only leave in the platform those seeking for bargains, diminishing the interest of those thinking of making properties available, what will reduce available inventory.
The downward spiral has started...
$93m profit on $2.6b in revenue. I've read elsewhere ~$60m came from the "hedge fund", so it was still a small part of total revenue, but it would have been dumb not to get a return on the $5b in cash they have from investors and float.