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Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

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Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#41

Post by richiezc »

naveen99 wrote: post #39
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…

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

sure, but how are they going to pay the AMT tax on that? options from 10 years ago are in the $0.XX range and 409a FMV today even after the drop is like $58

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#42

Post by naveen99 »

richiezc wrote: post #41
naveen99 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

sure, but how are they going to pay the AMT tax on that? options from 10 years ago are in the $0.XX range and 409a FMV today even after the drop is like $58

How does an ipo help with that ? if you have options, you have to face tax consequences when you exercise them with or without an ipo.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#43

Post by richiezc »

naveen99 wrote: post #42
richiezc wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sure, but how are they going to pay the AMT tax on that? options from 10 years ago are in the $0.XX range and 409a FMV today even after the drop is like $58

How does an ipo help with that ? if you have options, you have to face tax consequences when you exercise them with or without an ipo.

b/c you can sell them at that point, the shares today are illiquid and they'd probably have to do something like a prepaid variable forward to be able to afford to exercise and pay tax (~23% of FMV - strike price) we're talking millions of dollars for early employees who didn't do an 83b election.

once airbnb IPOs they could do either of the following:

* Cashless (exercise and sell to cover: sell enough of your shares to cover the purchase price and applicable fees and taxes.

* Cashless (exercise and sell): sell it all

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#44

Post by naveen99 »

richiezc wrote: post #43
naveen99 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does an ipo help with that ? if you have options, you have to face tax consequences when you exercise them with or without an ipo.

b/c you can sell them at that point, the shares today are illiquid and they'd probably have to do something like a prepaid variable forward to be able to afford to exercise and pay tax (~23% of FMV - strike price) we're talking millions of dollars for early employees who didn't do an 83b election. once airbnb IPOs they could do either of the following: * Cashless (exercise and sell to cover: sell enough of your share…

You clearly know more about this since it affects you personally. But airbnb shares aren’t that illiquid. I purchased some myself in a secondary market. You might lose 5% to commission, which I guess is enough to want an ipo if you have a lot of money tied up there.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#45

Post by richiezc »

richiezc wrote: post #43
naveen99 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does an ipo help with that ? if you have options, you have to face tax consequences when you exercise them with or without an ipo.

b/c you can sell them at that point, the shares today are illiquid and they'd probably have to do something like a prepaid variable forward to be able to afford to exercise and pay tax (~23% of FMV - strike price) we're talking millions of dollars for early employees who didn't do an 83b election. once airbnb IPOs they could do either of the following: * Cashless (exercise and sell to cover: sell enough of your share…

from friends who have sold its more in the 15% commission range, there's also a fair amount of tax and legal headaches.

- replying to myself since there's a max threading depth on HN?

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#46

Post by lasgsf »

Not an employee but overall I am quite bullish on Airbnb as ironically they will be the definition of a what a post-covid travel company will become. Couple points in their favour:

1. Work from home becomes work from anywhere: The WFH trend is here to stay and will grow. If you have an option why not stay anywhere in world and work vs. close by home? I expect we will see a big % of WFH markets be global travelers. Proving this thesis would be Airbnb can show on S1 the % of guest who book outside their home location and for stays more then 2 weeks (to account that it is not simply vacation time).

2. Stays gravitating to Tier 2 or lower vs. Tier 1: People will not want to fly or be close to other folks so you will see travel go to Tier 2 or lower cities. This helps Airbnb in two ways.. less competition as these cities won't have as much hotels...second allows them to increase their breadth of revenue based across many more cities then being dependant on just Tier 1 which have risk (regulation, disaster, etc.). Show this on S1 by % of travel that is now on Tier 2 and lower markets and how this has grown as a proportion of your overall revenue base.

3. Safety: Simple it's getting close to accepted that the #1 way of covid transmission is via airborne. Based on this you as a traveler should want to minimize as much unnecessary humans interaction as possible thus hotels suck with all the traffic that is there. You may argue that hotels have policy that are more strict on cleaning but this doesn't mean much when the way to catch covid is via airseol.

4. Inventory: With the economy still in shambles they will get more host who will monetize their living assets more and thus provide more inventory.

I could go on and on but thats my thesis.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#48

Post by dannyw »

Judgmentality wrote: post #38
geronb wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

One of my friends found a hidden camera in the bedroom, in an Airbnb "superhost" overseas (around 2018).

Despite providing a police report to Airbnb and getting a full refund, the listing was never taken down, the Superhost status was still there, and somehow the review she left was deleted.

I think it's pretty shameful and wish she went to the media about it.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#49

Post by jariel »

lasgsf wrote: post #46

Not an employee but overall I am quite bullish on Airbnb as ironically they will be the definition of a what a post-covid travel company will become. Couple points in their favour: 1. Work from home becomes work from anywhere: The WFH trend is here to stay and will grow. If you have an option why not stay anywhere in world and work vs. close by home? I expect we will see a big % of WFH markets be global travelers. Pr…

?

They are being devastated by COVID which could linger for a while.

Their biggest risk is regulatory and taxation. Many AirBnBs are illegal, and what will really grind government to act are the potential lost revenues.

I think they will do just fine, it's a matter of valuation.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#50

Post by meddlepal »

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.

Throw January out the window. Answer this question? Is AirBNB a valuable idea? I think the answer is yes. Stocks go up based on future projections.

Even if they have to IPO, declare Chapter 11 in 2020, and reform for 2021 there's still a valuable company in my mind because the product is revolutionary.

Before COVID killed travel I would always favor renting a AirBNB for over a hotel. It was marginally cheaper and offered a better experience usually (in my experience).

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