Airbnb valuation reaches $100 Billion in trading debut surge

Airbnb Inc. shares more than doubled in their trading debut, propelling the home-rental company to about a $100 billion valuation and one of the biggest first-day rallies on record., Report says.

The shares closed Thursday at $144.71, up 113% from the $68 initial public offering price. The listing came ten months after the Covid-19 pandemic upended travel 24 hours after DoorDash Inc. soared in its public debut.

Airbnb joined DoorDash in quickly becoming a euphoric moment for new listings in America's equity markets, egged on by retail investors embracing companies poised to thrive as vaccines promise a loosening of pandemic restrictions. While soaring valuations for IPOs give many market veterans pause, Airbnb is at least earning money, unlike 80% of firms that have sold new shares in 2020. The company just reported its most profitable quarter ever.

"I don't know what else to say," Airbnb Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky said in an earlier Bloomberg Television interview when indications showed the stock could open at more than $139 per share. "I'm very humbled by it."

Airbnb's market value makes it the world's biggest online travel company based on its outstanding shares. Its $86.5 billion market value narrowly tops Booking Holdings Inc.'s $86.2 billion market capitalization and eclipses Expedia Group Inc. and TripAdvisor Inc. Airbnb's market value, about 19 or 20 times its 2021 revenue at the opening price Thursday, also topped that of the four largest public hotel chains combined.