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Why does Airbnb feel the need to raise such a large funding round instead of going for an IPO?
by nharada 11y ago
Why does Airbnb feel the need to raise such a large funding round instead of going for an IPO?
- adventured 11y agoBecause much like Twitter's scenario, they're not worth nearly as much in the public market as they are today in the private market. Their numbers today won't support that hyper valuation. So they'd have a celebrated IPO, raise $2 billion or so, and their stock would promptly crater as the first few quarterly results rolled in. The public market is going to look at HomeAway's $3 billion valuation and $446 million in sales, and wonder why they're paying 8 or 10 times more for Airbnb, when the actual financial results are far less. They also can raise this billion at a tiny dilution, while not acquiring the intense scrutiny that goes with being public. Twitter for example has been under a challenging microscope since they went public. It's painful to flesh out your business model on the front page of the New York Times.
- bane 11y agoFrom a conversation on just this topic a day ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9728648 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9728648