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Shares opened at $146 on the Nasdaq, far above the initial public offering (IPO) price of $68 apiece that raised $3.5 billion for the company.
The IPO highlights a stunning recovery in Airbnb’s fortunes after the firm’s business was heavily damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year.
Founded in 2008 as a website to take bookings for rooms during conferences, Airbnb was valued at just $18 billion in a private fundraising round in April and $31 billion in its last pre-COVID-19 private fundraising in 2017.
The surge at opening adds billions to what was already a blockbuster payday for founders Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk and Joseph Gebbia and investors including Sequoia Capital and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.
This year has seen a string of stellar debuts by technology startups including Wednesday’s launch of DoorDash Inc, which valued the food delivery company at more than four times the figure from a private fundraising round six months ago.
At $146, Airbnb had a market capitalization of about $87.2 billion, compared with Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:BKNG)’ $86.3 billion and Marriot International (NASDAQ:MAR)’s $42.3 billion.
Including securities such as options and restricted stock units, its fully diluted valuation came to $101.6 billion.
