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Airbnb, the longtime travel unicorn almost left for dead when its homesharing business nosedived in March, executed an initial public offering on Thursday of near-mythical proportions.
Priced at $68 per share Wednesday evening, the first trade was $146 per share. The company, which had an $18 billion private valuation during the depths of the recession, was trading at more than $158 per share in the first few minutes of trading, translating to a $109 billion valuation. That makes it larger than Booking Holdings’ at $86 billion market cap and dwarfing rival Expedia’s at $18.5 billion.
Airbnb makes its debut on the New York Stock Exchange today.
The private accommodation giant s shares will list on the NASDAQ trading floor, just short of four months after announcing its intention to seek an Initial Public Offering of the business.
The traditional bell-ringing ceremony will be virtual and carried out by Airbnb s co-founders, Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nate Blecharczyk.
To mark the occasion, Airbnb is launching a brief marketing campaign on U.S. television networks over the course of the next two days, featuring a host from each time zone ringing their doorbells.
The Barclays Times Square billboard will be used to thank healthcare workers for their heroism, after the company launched a campaign earlier this year to provide them with housing during the pandemic.