Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August • Hacker News Board

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#31

Post by mamon » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 9:04 PM UTC

tunesmith wrote: post #15

DeonPenny wrote: post #12

Eh maybe this is a good idea. Airline and hotel stocks have been up and people are planning for the end of COVID-19 by Jan. So by Jan they could of reached their old level's plus raised cash in a cash strapped world. I doubt anyone believes airbnb is going to flop anytime soon.

Who's planning for the end of COVID by January? That sounds a lot like how when everyone decided it was over in May. I've heard some optimism about the end of 2021, maybe 2nd half of 2021 for rich countries, but not January.

It's not about finding the vaccine, or virus actually going away. Simply, by Jan 2021 people will be so sick and tired of hearing about COVID that they will say "fuck it" and carry on with their lives as usual. Me personally I'm close to that point already.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#32

Post by netsharc » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 10:56 PM UTC

Denvercoder9 wrote: post #17

DeonPenny wrote: post #12

Eh maybe this is a good idea. Airline and hotel stocks have been up and people are planning for the end of COVID-19 by Jan. So by Jan they could of reached their old level's plus raised cash in a cash strapped world. I doubt anyone believes airbnb is going to flop anytime soon.

> people are planning for the end of COVID-19 by Jan Unfortunately a virus doesn't care about people's plans.

Yeah people saying "glad 2016/17/18/19/20 is over" thinking everything will be reset... But things like viruses, climate change and political corruption doesn't recognize human calendars..

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#33

Post by geronb » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 11:17 PM UTC

Judgmentality wrote: post #2

Didn't AirBnB just take out a huge loan on less-than-stellar terms? https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/15/airbnb-ups-its-debt-by-1bn... Not to mention how the company is getting hammered by the coronavirus, in addition to having to face the reality of having used shady tactics to prop up positive reviews over the years. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43k7z3/nationwide-fake-ho... This sounds like they're trying to cas…

I'm an employee and Airbnb is actually doing very well right now. People have been taking a lot of trips to less dense areas as nearby getaways. https://www.financial-world.org/news/news/business/6074/cali...

Same for VRBO, which is also doing very well.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#34

Post by geronb » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 11:18 PM UTC

xiaolingxiao wrote: post #25

Could they be running out of cash, and given COVID-19 is not dying down in the U.S., could the investors are forcing a cash-out? In this case most of the employees will be wiped out right?

Airbnb is actually doing very well right now, and is essentially fully recovered if not growing, same as the competitors like VRBO. There's been a huge surge in nearby getaway trips. https://www.financial-world.org/news/news/business/6074/cali...

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#35

Post by geronb » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 11:21 PM UTC

canada_dry wrote: post #30

gopalv wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does anyone have any ideas on why they didn't postpone? If Airbnb has handed 10 year expiring stock options to core employees, then they're right at the cusp of expiring this year. I would guess it doesn't affect anyone who opted for an 83B early on, but for those who held onto them without exercising them on the pennies might be very unhappy without a 2020 IPO. It feels like a different era now, but this was discu…

> employee equity that are set to start expiring in November 2020 and in mid-2021; those shares will become worthless if the company is not trading publicly by then I'd say you nailed it on the head. Because aside from this, it's pretty terrible timing for an industry that's been killed by the virus and won't rebound until it's long over.

Not really. Airbnb has fully recovered, same as VRBO (which is growing about 60% YoY) and having proven that the business has been resilient even during the pandemic can be a good story for the IPO. https://www.financial-world.org/news/news/business/6074/cali...

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#36

Post by geronb » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 11:28 PM UTC

Judgmentality wrote: post #2

Didn't AirBnB just take out a huge loan on less-than-stellar terms? https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/15/airbnb-ups-its-debt-by-1bn... Not to mention how the company is getting hammered by the coronavirus, in addition to having to face the reality of having used shady tactics to prop up positive reviews over the years. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43k7z3/nationwide-fake-ho... This sounds like they're trying to cas…

What do you mean by "shady tactics to prop up positive reviews over the years"? I'm an employee and we have very strict policies around review fairness. If anything, most review-related complaints come from hosts who want to have negative reviews removed due to perceived unfairness. By policy, negative reviews are rarely if ever removed this way much to the chagrin of hosts.

Reviews are usually ranked chronologically, but in some cases there may be sorted by predicted relevancy ranking based on review length and language.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#37

Post by jkinudsjknds » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 11:39 PM UTC

geronb wrote: post #36

Judgmentality wrote: post #2

Didn't AirBnB just take out a huge loan on less-than-stellar terms? https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/15/airbnb-ups-its-debt-by-1bn... Not to mention how the company is getting hammered by the coronavirus, in addition to having to face the reality of having used shady tactics to prop up positive reviews over the years. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43k7z3/nationwide-fake-ho... This sounds like they're trying to cas…

What do you mean by "shady tactics to prop up positive reviews over the years"? I'm an employee and we have very strict policies around review fairness. If anything, most review-related complaints come from hosts who want to have negative reviews removed due to perceived unfairness. By policy, negative reviews are rarely if ever removed this way much to the chagrin of hosts. Reviews are usually ranked chronologically…

They posted a link describing what they mean.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#38

Post by Judgmentality » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 11:43 PM UTC

geronb wrote: post #36

Judgmentality wrote: post #2

Didn't AirBnB just take out a huge loan on less-than-stellar terms? https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/15/airbnb-ups-its-debt-by-1bn... Not to mention how the company is getting hammered by the coronavirus, in addition to having to face the reality of having used shady tactics to prop up positive reviews over the years. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43k7z3/nationwide-fake-ho... This sounds like they're trying to cas…

What do you mean by "shady tactics to prop up positive reviews over the years"? I'm an employee and we have very strict policies around review fairness. If anything, most review-related complaints come from hosts who want to have negative reviews removed due to perceived unfairness. By policy, negative reviews are rarely if ever removed this way much to the chagrin of hosts. Reviews are usually ranked chronologically…

You could read the link I attached to my comment.

I've personally experienced problems with reviews before where negative reviews never showed up, and have stopped using AirBnB as a result. I also know this is an extremely well-known problem, and if you aren't aware of it it's because you haven't looked for it (a few minutes on Google is all it takes).

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#39

Post by naveen99 » Wed, Aug 12, 2020, 12:21 AM UTC

gopalv wrote: post #9

iliekcomputers wrote: post #3

I would have expected them to postpone for sure, given COVID. Does anyone have any ideas on why they didn't postpone? Could it just be them expecting that it'll get much worse?

> Does anyone have any ideas on why they didn't postpone? If Airbnb has handed 10 year expiring stock options to core employees, then they're right at the cusp of expiring this year. I would guess it doesn't affect anyone who opted for an 83B early on, but for those who held onto them without exercising them on the pennies might be very unhappy without a 2020 IPO. It feels like a different era now, but this was discu…

That’s questionable. Shares don’t expire, options do. And options can be exercised at will anytime before expiry, with or without an ipo.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#40

Post by adventured » Wed, Aug 12, 2020, 12:23 AM UTC

geronb wrote: post #34

xiaolingxiao wrote: post #25

Could they be running out of cash, and given COVID-19 is not dying down in the U.S., could the investors are forcing a cash-out? In this case most of the employees will be wiped out right?

Airbnb is actually doing very well right now, and is essentially fully recovered if not growing, same as the competitors like VRBO. There's been a huge surge in nearby getaway trips. https://www.financial-world.org/news/news/business/6074/cali...

Given you've posted that twice to this thread now, can you prove what you're saying better than posting a link that doesn't actually support what you're claiming?

It's doing very well - versus what? It's profitable? It's not bleeding huge amounts of cash? Its sales are higher than this time last year? Please provide some potent information to defend the premise.

Airbnb had to fire 1/4 of its staff. It's doing very well versus having to fire 3/4 of its staff?

Essentially fully recovered, if not growing - can you provide supporting information that shows that Airbnb sales have fully recovered? That's a gigantic claim.

Besides that, is there good reason to believe any recent sales bump post lockdown isn't temporary? People bursting out of lockdown and desperate to get-away for a brief spell before school starts and Summer ends, and prior to the Covid deathwave that is inbound this Fall & Winter (which will prompt further lockdowns, short of a miracle vaccine being distributed everywhere before January or February).