In what's sure to be a closely watched and perhaps very popular issue, Airbnb has officially filed for its initial public offering (IPO). In the S-1, the document required of new issuers by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company revealed significant revenue erosion.
For the first nine months of this year, Airbnb's top line was just over $2.5 billion -- a 32% drop from the same period last year. The do-it-yourself accommodation booking specialist also suffered from a net loss that more than doubled to slightly under $697 million from the year-ago deficit of almost $323 million.
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As with other companies in the travel industry, such as Expedia Group (EXPE 0.55%) and Booking Holdings (BKNG -0.45%), Airbnb has been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
In its filing, the company explained that "while many industries have been adversely impacted, travel has been disproportionately affected, as governments have implemented travel restrictions and as people have become reluctant to travel irrespective of such restrictions." Expedia and Booking Holdings have made similar pronouncements about their recent performance.
Prior to this year, Airbnb had been on a fairly steep growth path. The company managed to become arguably the most familiar name in DIY accommodation, operating throughout the world with a top line tracking such advancement. From 2015 to 2019, it managed to grow its revenue by more than fivefold, from $919 million in 2015 to last year's over $4.8 billion.
Airbnb has not yet disclosed how many shares it will sell in the IPO, nor had it set a price. The issue was originally supposed to happen last week, but was postponed. A new date has not yet been fixed.
