Airbnb sets terms for US$2.6b IPO

[SAN FRANCISCO] Airbnb and existing investors are seeking to raise as much as US$2.6 billion in a long-awaited initial public offering expected to cap the biggest year ever for US listings.

The home-rental platform and some shareholders are offering 51.9 million shares at US$44 to US$50 apiece, San Francisco-based Airbnb said in a filing Tuesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The filing also addresses the key question of Airbnb's valuation as a public company. It would have a fully diluted market value of nearly US$35 billion at the top end of the indicative range. That figure includes employee stock options as well as restricted share units.

Airbnb's highest valuation as a private company was US$31 billion in a funding round in 2017. Warrants in an April round of debt and equity securities that included Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners valued the company at only US$18 billion, Bloomberg News has reported.

Investors in Airbnb, along with its executives and directors, will be able to control the company through Class B shares, which will carry 20 votes each compared with one vote each for the Class A shares being sold in the IPO. Airbnb's backers include venture capital firm Sequoia, which had 16.4 per cent of the voting power leading into the IPO. Other top investors include Founders Fund with 5.4 per cent and DST Global with 2.3 per cent.

At US$2.6 billion, the IPO would be the fourth-biggest in the US this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

New listings on US exchanges have raised US$152 billion this year, with roughly half of that by special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Globally, 2020's total of US$317 billion in IPOs is second only to 2007, when US$385 billion was raised, the data show.

Airbnb plans for its shares to trade on under the symbol ABNB.

BLOOMBERG