Airbnb hikes IPO price range

Airbnb Inc expects to raise up to $3.09 billion in a stock market launch later this week after boosting its price range, capping a stunning recovery in its fortunes after it was heavily damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year.

Fred Katayama reports.

A hot year for IPOs is getting even hotter.

Airbnb is jacking up its IPO price range, valuing itself at up to $42 billion.

A regulatory filing Monday showed the American home rental firm plans to price 51.6 million shares at between $56 and $60 apiece in its market debut later this week.

That’s significantly higher than the $44 to $50 range it had targeted earlier.

That would give the company a fully diluted valuation of $41.8 billion at the upper end of the range --- more than double the $18 billion it was worth in April in a private fundraising round in the early weeks of the health crisis.

Airbnb has mounted a comeback since then.

It initially struggled in the immediate aftermath of the crisis as travel came to a halt.

But as lockdowns eased, more travelers chose to book homes instead of hotels.

It has been a bumper year studded with huge IPOs that just saw food delivery startup DoorDash raise its IPO price range last week.

But Airbnb’s debut, which would raise up to $3 billion, is one of the largest and most anticipated among them.