Will Airbnb going down the same path as Uber/Lyft/Slack/WeWork once they go public?
Remember how UBER was at the same level as G/F 2-3 years back. Airbnb getting the same love now for their higher TC, but how much paper money is worth in the real world? Tc:300k
Do people not have a very basic understanding of a balance sheet, and how stock works? Tech people sound like elementary school students when they talk about finance
I think Airbnb has a much better balance sheet and are not losing tons of money like the other companies you mentioned. I guess people voting yes are wishing it would go down and not actually voting based on facts.
Airbnb is already profitable ...
Their business is easy to replicate, their customer support sucks, and they face a lot of regulatory risk. Profits are nice but itโs a risky investment for sure.
This. Profit is not the only thing. Model should be defensible
Right, like Amazonโs non-replicable marketplace or cloud business
Probably will ... and that path is cashing out initial investors and leaving public investors stuck with a company that will never profit. A sort of Ponzi scheme. None of those companies should be allowed to go public in the first place. Especially Uber.
Airbnb is not profitable after stock grants cost included. Airbnb is also not profitable in any stable way even before including stock grants. Unlike uber, it didnt really "disrupt" hotel industry in any major way so will still face strong competition from them.
Ok. Then how come it did not have to raise money over the last 3 yrs and how come they are going for a direct listing. Unless you are an insider with company's financial knowledge I don't know how you can say these things with confidence
Stock grants are not counted as cost in private company. They just issue new ones and dilute others. But they will have to count them as cost in public market. Their sometimes-profit-sometimes-unprofit BEFORE stock grants is public info. You can google it.
Isn't Airbnb already profitable though?
Yes but regulations aren't helping. Seems like they'll get banned all over the place
People said the same thing about fb in 2017. Wait did Google not get banned in China and survive?