Airbnb
Airbnb was founded in 2008 and has raised a total of $4.4 billion in funding, according to Crunchbase. The company has reached unicorn status with a valuation above $1 billion, and it’s been widely reported that it will go public this year. However, although it has reached profitability in the past, Airbnb currently operates at a loss.
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Why Airbnb Isn’t Profitable
The vacation rental company’s operating losses more than doubled in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the previous year, with a whopping $306 million in losses, The Information reported. The increase in losses was due in part to increased investment in sales and marketing. The company had also been spending more on product development, and operations and support.
Airbnb is expected to go public in 2020, even though it has swung from profitable to losing money. People close to the company told Bloomberg that Airbnb had a $322 million net loss for the first nine months of 2019, down from a $200 million profit the previous year.
