Airbnb is set to ring in its first full year of profitability, putting it in a rare class among large venture-funded Silicon Valley companies.
Laurence Tosi, chief financial officer of the home sharing company, tells CNBC, “the third quarter was the strongest quarter in the company’s history and this year, we will be profitable, as measured by EBITDA.”
A source familiar with Airbnb’s financials said that the company will end 2017 with bookings up approximately 50 percent from 2016.
CNBC reported previously that revenue last quarter hit about $1 billion, up more than 50 percent from the same period last year.
Making money — not losing it — puts Airbnb in stark contrast to other tech upstarts like Uber, Lyft and Spotify.
Uber’s losses widened last quarter to $1.46 billion, a jump of nearly 40 percent year over year, as the ride-hailing company faced increased competition from global rivals like Didi, and at home, as Lyft gains market share.
As Uber retreats from global markets like China and Russia, Airbnb is scaling up its international presence. To woo Chinese users, it rebranded its Chinese operations with a Chinese name, “Aibiying”, and CEO Brian Chesky pledge to double investment.
According to the company, that push is showing early results. Airbnb tells CNBC that guest arrivals at listings in China grew 180 percent from the previous year to 1 million in the third quarter, making the market its second fastest-growing country during the period, after Cuba. Just 3 years ago, in 2014, Airbnb had roughly ten thousand guest arrivals in China in the third quarter.
Airbnb expects to end 2017 with another China milestone — it’s the top trending country for travelers on New Years Eve, with the city of Suzhou, about 60 miles from Shanghai, taking the top spot.
But the company is facing challenges in China too — fierce competition from local rivals, an abrupt executive departure and regulatory crackdowns. Chinese home sharing platform, Xiaozhu, raised $120 million in a funding round led by Jack Ma’s Yunfeng Capital this year while another, Tujia, tapped investors for $300 million, led by Chinese online travel giant Ctrip. In October, the head of Airbnb’s China business left just four months after taking the position.
Beyond China, Airbnb faced other challenges in 2017. Growth of listings is slowing in some of Airbnb’s biggest cities, where it also faced stricter regulations.
Investors have focused on the bright spots, putting in another $1 billion dollars into the startup, bringing its valuation to $31 billion — more than the valuations of publicly traded hotel giants Hilton and Hyatt.
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Laurence Tosi’s first name.
Source: Tech CNBC
Airbnb books first full-year profit in 2017 as China business takes off