Airbnb is aiming to go public in the middle of the corona pandemic, although bookings and value have plummeted. The calculation behind this plan: Technology companies are in great demand on the stock market. Many investors hope that by investing in these companies, they will be able to jump on the digitalization bandwagon. But there are doubts whether Airbnb is going in the right direction.
“We will not participate in this IPO”, says Alois Wögerbauer, managing director of 3 Banken-Generali Investment GmbH. It is too difficult to make a reasonable valuation of the company. The business model is no longer the original and it is under pressure from many sides, said Wögerbauer.
Air mattress with breakfast
Airbnb’s founding myth is evoked in the company’s prospectus. “In the beginning two friends opened their doors,” it says there. Back in 2007, Airbnb founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia should have hosted the guests of a congress in San Francisco in order to finance their rent. They called their offer “Airbed and Breakfast”. This became the brand name Airbnb.
With around five and a half million accommodations worldwide, Airbnb is one of the giants in the so-called sharing economy. The concept behind it: travelers stay privately, Airbnb makes the mediation platform available online and collects commission. For many property owners, this also became a business model. Entire city districts migrated to the Airbnb platform. Much to the annoyance of the locals, who suddenly felt like a hotel guest in their own apartment because all around there were only more Airbnb guests going in and out.
Because the apartments were often rented outside the tax area, this called the tax authorities on the scene. The restrictions for Airbnb became more and more severe. The original business model no longer worked properly.
And then there was Corona. The pandemic didn’t hit Airbnb quite as badly as the hotel industry, but the travel restrictions also caused sales of the intermediary platform to collapse. 1,800 employees, a quarter of the workforce, were given notice. In the third quarter, the company made a profit of $ 219 million, but warned that it might not be able to stay in the black for the full year.
With its debut on the stock market planned for December 10, Airbnb now wants to benefit from the fact that technology companies in particular are in demand with investors during the corona crisis. The question remains whether Airbnb’s business model is still going strong. The original idea could become a booking platform for vacation rentals, but there are already many competitors here.
numbers and facts
Airbnb plans to sell around 51.9 million shares for $ 44 to $ 50 apiece, according to a statement released by the company last week. The new issue would have a volume of $ 2.85 billion. The company would be valued at $ 35 billion (29.22 billion euros). In April, the company received a $ 2 billion injection of cash to help it get through the crisis. Donors were the Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners funds.
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