Airbnb to file confidentially for IPO this month: WSJ

Airbnb will confidentially file for an IPO this month, according to The Wall Street Journal. Yahoo Finance's On The Move panel discusses.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: We've got some breaking news now that we want to talk about that has to do with Airbnb. According to the "Wall Street Journal," Airbnb plans to file confidentially for an IPO in August. Now this is something that had been talking about potentially happening sometime this year, but then maybe got pushed back because of the pandemic. We're starting to see demand come back. Dan Howley, is this a surprise?

DAN HOWLEY: It's not particularly a surprise. We had thought that there was going to be an IPO for Airbnb at some point this year, even outside of the fact that the coronavirus pandemic had kind of ravaged markets. And we know that the company's valuation had dropped significantly. According to this report, it was down from $31 billion to $18 billion.

A lot of people, including renters who had purchased properties specifically for renting for Airbnb, were hit hard as the coronavirus set in and travel restrictions were applied. And I think that's something that they're going to be able to get past as we start to see this gradual reopening. People may not be comfortable going to a hotel with hundreds of other guests. But they may be comfortable going to an Airbnb where it's just them and their family and they can do some cleaning. And I know the company itself has put in cleaning protocols that hosts have to follow if they want to have guests.

So I think around the pandemic, this may be a time for Airbnb to really shine.

DAN ROBERTS: So guys, with Airbnb, just to play off what Howley said, I mean, not surprising, and yet there is some irony here in the company's apparent rush to go public. I mean, we've all been waiting for the IPO. And yet the company was hit so hard by the pandemic.

And there was a funny moment, I thought, when CEO Brian Chesky did an interview with our editor-in-chief, Andy Serwer, I believe about a month ago, maybe less than a month ago. Chesky said he went on vacation back in January. And he fully expected when he came back that the company would be going public very soon, or filing to go public very soon. They had prepared the S-1.

Then he said the pandemic hit and we put the S-1 filing on a shelf. And then he said but now we've dusted it off and we're still ready to go public. And it's like, well, even though nothing has changed, even though the company was hurt by the pandemic and things haven't improved financially, well, now we still want to go public this year.

And the answer is, well, they want the money. They want the cash. So we're going to see this IPO. But I would have thought-- and the Journal scoop just came out. It doesn't mention anything about a direct listing.

But I thought Airbnb, and still think Airbnb would be a very likely candidate for a direct listing, because of the way that it takes away the hype a little bit. It takes away the roadshow. And it takes away the hype.

So I would have thought that you'd see mention of that. I don't know if necessarily because that Journal story doesn't mention it that it means it won't be a direct listing. We'll see what happens there. But that would be a kind of unsurprising route for this company to go, because it takes a little bit of the pressure off.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, but it also takes a little bit of the payoff off for the investors. So I'm sure that is a factor as well. Thank you, Dan.