Airbnb Inc on Friday said it took in more than US$1 billion in revenue in the past three months, calling it the best quarter ever for the home-sharing giant as it readies a stock market offering.
“The third quarter of 2018 was the strongest quarter in Airbnb history, and the first quarter in which Airbnb recognized substantially more than US$1 billion in revenue,” the company said in a memo.
The revelation came as Airbnb prepared for an initial public offering (IPO) as soon as the middle of next year at a valuation estimated to be more than US$30 billion.
As a private firm, Airbnb does not need to disclose its performance and the memo offered no detailed financial information, although the service is believed to be on course to be profitable for a second year.
More than 400 million guest “arrivals” have been logged at Airbnb lodgings since the service launched a decade ago, the company said.
The number of Airbnb guests in the third quarter soared in Beijing, Mexico City, Johannesburg, and Birmingham, England, it said.
Airbnb expected that nearly 1 million guests would stay in US lodgings booked through its service during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend later this week.
Airbnb has become a target for regulators who contend the service skirts taxes and hotel regulations, while increasing pressure on housing by enticing property owners to make homes available to visitors rather than residents.
The main trade group for French hotels has sued the home-sharing giant, accusing it of unfair competition by “knowingly violating” rules imposed as part of a crackdown in one of Airbnb’s biggest markets.
Paris has led the charge in France against Airbnb and other platforms, claiming that they have driven up home prices while depriving municipalities of taxes on income, which often goes undeclared.
The moves echo actions taken in other tourist hotspots such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin and New York.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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