The proposed $35-billion valuation executives with Airbnb are seeking would put it among the highest-valued lodging companies, according to data from the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index.
Airbnb announced early Tuesday via an SEC filing that the company was looking to price shares at a maximum of $50 in its initial public offering, giving it an initial value of roughly $35 billion. That would be a significant increase over its more recent private valuation of $18 billion and its highest recorded private valuation of $31 billion, seen in 2017.
Reaching that lofty target would immediately place Airbnb among the largest companies in the publicly traded lodging sector based on market capitalization.
Among the hotel C-corps on the index, Marriott International is the largest, with a market cap of $41.2 billion as Tuesday morning. Hilton is in a distant second and would trail Airbnb at its target valuation, with a market cap of $28.7 billion.
A $35 billion valuation would position Airbnb between the two most prominent online travel agencies Expedia Group and Booking Holdings, which Airbnb officials identified as their top competitors—along with Google—in their initial SEC filing.
As of Tuesday morning, Expedia had a market cap of $17.6 billion, while Booking was at $83.1 billion.
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