Airbnb (ABNB)

The holiday rental company that owns no rooms.

This is our third report on companies that are platforms or marketplaces. A platform is a location where buyers and sellers meet to transact. The platform company provides the venue and takes some revenues from the user(s). Stock exchanges are an example of a platform. Others include eBay, Airbnb, Spotify and Uber. Our first two notes were on Uber and Spotify. In this note we look at Airbnb (ABNB).

Airbnb, Inc. operates a platform for Stays and Experiences.

Airbnb is a fast-growing company, expanding rapidly since its founding in 2008 to reach $81bn in gross bookings in 2024.

They have 5mn hosts who have welcomed 2bn guest arrivals. Guests can book apartment, home, villa, and other lodging stays in approximately 100,000 cities in more than 220 countries and regions around the world.

The company’s global platform, customer and supply relationships, and strong brand affinity position the company to be pioneer and leader in this market.

As of December 31, 2024, they had approximately 7,300 employees. They also had a global network of about 11,000 third-party workers to handle support contacts.

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