Airbnb’s Three Cofounders Worth Over $3 Billion Each At Planned IPO Price

Airbnb filed an updated prospectus on Tuesday morning with new details on its much-anticipated initial public offering. The company is aiming to sell $2.8 billion worth of its stock, at $44 to $50 per share, during its IPO — valuing the home rental company anywhere from $30.6 billion to $34.8 billion. Given how tech IPOs have performed so far in 2020, it would not be surprising if the shares exceeded the targeted IPO price on opening day.

Airbnb’s three billionaire founders — Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharcyzk and Joe Gebbia — will each sell less than 1% of their current stakes at the offering, or about 630,000 shares apiece, worth some $28 million at the low end of the pricing range. 

That will leave Chesky, the chief executive officer, with around 11% of the company after the offering, a stake worth at least $3.4 billion at the low end of the IPO pricing. Blecharcyzk, the chief strategy officer, and Gebbia, the chief product officer, meanwhile, will each own just under 10%, stakes worth at least $3.1 billion each.

It might seem bullish that Airbnb is going public in a year when its private valuation dropped at one point from $31 billion to $18 billion following a huge drop in business as travel halted due to the pandemic, but the company and investors seem to be betting on the home rental company making a rebound in the near future, when Covid restrictions ease and people resume traveling.

The business has, of course, been impacted by the pandemic. In the first nine months of 2020, the company posted $2.5 billion in revenues, a 48% drop from last year. Its net loss is nearly $700 million this year so far, a 53% increase from last year. But the company reported net income of $219 million in the third quarter, up from a net loss of $575.6 million in the second quarter, showing some signs of a rebound.

Chesky, Blecharcyzk and Gebbia founded Airbnb in 2008 in San Francisco when they started renting their apartment out during a design conference that resulted in few available hotel rooms  in the city. The three founders bought three air mattresses and called the idea “Airbed and Breakfast.”