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More travel executives get their mission-critical industry news from Skift than any other source on the planet.Tell me more 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. ....