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Airbnb valued at $13B ahead of staff stock sale

cnbc.com

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Re: Airbnb valued at $13B ahead of staff stock sale

#11

Post by supergirl »

quaunaut wrote: post #8

I always see these people commenting on how they don't see the value in Airbnb. I've gotta say, after staying at a few places, I don't see the value anywhere else. * Hilton Worldwide has yearly revenues of $9.7b. * Marriott International has yearly revenues of $11.8b. * Best Western has yearly revenues of $6b. Now, I don't know what their current revenues are. Based on how many people from all over the US I've spoken…

what about future competition? what's to stop 100 other people starting similar websites?

Re: Airbnb valued at $13B ahead of staff stock sale

#12

Post by joelrunyon »

supergirl wrote: post #11
quaunaut wrote: post #8

I always see these people commenting on how they don't see the value in Airbnb. I've gotta say, after staying at a few places, I don't see the value anywhere else. * Hilton Worldwide has yearly revenues of $9.7b. * Marriott International has yearly revenues of $11.8b. * Best Western has yearly revenues of $6b. Now, I don't know what their current revenues are. Based on how many people from all over the US I've spoken…

what about future competition? what's to stop 100 other people starting similar websites?

Critical mass.

Re: Airbnb valued at $13B ahead of staff stock sale

#13

Post by nknighthb »

DougN7 wrote: post #2

Does it seem like we're in another Internet bubble to anyone else?

If we are, it doesn't look like the first one, and I'm not sure what it "popping" would look like.

Startups aren't burning through a few hundred million and shutting down inside a year. There's no mass of IPOs by companies with no revenue and no realistic plan for getting revenue. And I don't see IPOs posting 500% gains on the first day.

Airbnb's been around for 5+ years, provides something people want, and obviously has revenue (though I wouldn't know how much). And so far its investors are all VC or private equity, including a lot of VCs who saw the first bubble up-close. Really, are there any funded startups right now without VCs who came out of the first bubble?

Re: Airbnb valued at $13B ahead of staff stock sale

#14

Post by rwmj »

supergirl wrote: post #11
quaunaut wrote: post #8

I always see these people commenting on how they don't see the value in Airbnb. I've gotta say, after staying at a few places, I don't see the value anywhere else. * Hilton Worldwide has yearly revenues of $9.7b. * Marriott International has yearly revenues of $11.8b. * Best Western has yearly revenues of $6b. Now, I don't know what their current revenues are. Based on how many people from all over the US I've spoken…

what about future competition? what's to stop 100 other people starting similar websites?

Sadly, network effects. The same reason that eBay doesn't have any serious competitors, despite the awful experience they offer.

Re: Airbnb valued at $13B ahead of staff stock sale

#15

Post by wslh »

troels wrote: post #7

I wonder how common it is for investors to allow a partial cashout of employee stockholders like this? And how are they going to distribute the cash? pro-rata?

It happened with Facebook and other companies. I can't find the specific article about this topic (I think from Fred Wilson).

The logic is that there is an inconsistency in growing a company to the billion scale while you are just having a salary. It gives a financial safety to the people involved in the key decisions.

Re: Airbnb valued at $13B ahead of staff stock sale

#16

Post by icebraining »

rmsaksida wrote: post #5
CmonDev wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cannot see anything that costs $13 billion in that company. I am probably bad at pricing.

Same here. Aside from taking care of transactions, which is easy to imitate, I don't see what sets Airbnb apart from other vacation rental websites. They are not fundamentally different. Yes, they have a large userbase, but that's easily threatenable considering their fees and lack of distinction. I must be missing something.

Doesn't that description fit eBay? Yet it has a $60B market cap.

Re: Airbnb valued at $13B ahead of staff stock sale

#18

Post by chimeracoder »

supergirl wrote: post #11
quaunaut wrote: post #8

I always see these people commenting on how they don't see the value in Airbnb. I've gotta say, after staying at a few places, I don't see the value anywhere else. * Hilton Worldwide has yearly revenues of $9.7b. * Marriott International has yearly revenues of $11.8b. * Best Western has yearly revenues of $6b. Now, I don't know what their current revenues are. Based on how many people from all over the US I've spoken…

what about future competition? what's to stop 100 other people starting similar websites?

Airbnb already negotiates with individual cities to charge taxes for certain rentals (look at Portland).

As soon as they're big enough, they will start supporting these taxes and pushing for laws that require collection, as it makes it more difficult for others to enter the market the way they did.

Re: Airbnb valued at $13B ahead of staff stock sale

#19

Post by smackfu »

quaunaut wrote: post #8

I always see these people commenting on how they don't see the value in Airbnb. I've gotta say, after staying at a few places, I don't see the value anywhere else. * Hilton Worldwide has yearly revenues of $9.7b. * Marriott International has yearly revenues of $11.8b. * Best Western has yearly revenues of $6b. Now, I don't know what their current revenues are. Based on how many people from all over the US I've spoken…

Remember when you are looking at hotel chain valuations that they generally don't own the hotels, but just franchise the brand. There are other large companies involved that own the hotels.

Re: Airbnb valued at $13B ahead of staff stock sale

#20

Post by bane »

DougN7 wrote: post #2

Does it seem like we're in another Internet bubble to anyone else?

Here's the fun part, if I start a company and get my friend to invest $1 for 0.0000001% of my company. What's my company's "valuation"?

"Valuation" is such a terrible term, all it really means is "the ROI expected by the investors". We try to make it very complicated with analysis of term sheets and growth rates and all that, but it's just a gamble on the part of the investor. The only difference between gambling and investing is that a gambler doesn't get to set the size of the payout if they win.

It's an effort to predict what the company could sell for if an interested buyer made a concerted effort to buy it, but until that happens, it's just a made up number and not newsworthy at all.

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