Airbnb IPO: A Huge Success under Pandemic

Abstract

This paper mainly describes the IPO of travel company Airbnb. While the travel industry around the world has been decimated by the coronavirus, with industries large and small either going bankrupt or having their funding disrupted, Airbnb has surprisingly survived. That is the story it is trying to sell to Wall Street in its roadshow. But the question is how did Airbnb survive the pandemic? The dramatic turnaround does not entirely mask its previous struggles with revenue growth. These include two of Airbnb's biggest challenges during the pandemic: a shortage of cash flow and competitive pressure from bookings. The second reason is why Airbnb chose to go public in the middle of the pandemic, and the risks are enormous: employee and shareholder stock maturities, and cash flows are desperately short. It remains to be seen how Airbnb managed to go public in a highly uncertain economic environment like the pandemic, contrary to other big companies that went public during the boom. The third chapter is about the pros and cons of IPO on Airbnb and its influence. Secondly, after the epidemic, what kind of development will Airbnb IPO have in the future, what kind of development, marketing strategy and whether Airbnb IPO is a right choice will be given, which will give favorable suggestions for Airbnb.