Airbnb Inc. unveiled paperwork for its initial public offering on Monday, showing the home-sharing giant turned a profit in the third quarter after the coronavirus pandemic forced it to overhaul its business and shed costs.
The company’s revenue for the three months ended Sept. 30 fell 18% to $1.34 billion from the same period a year earlier, as the pandemic continued to hurt bookings. But deep cost cuts, combined with an uptick in revenue from previous quarters, still led it to post a profit of $219 million. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Airbnb would be profitable during the period.
Airbnb lost $697 million through the first nine months of the year, more than twice as much as it lost in the year-earlier period, underscoring the toll of the health crisis. Revenue dropped 32% over the nine-month period.
The home-sharing platform’s ability to resuscitate to profitability and proceed with an impending public offering show how unpredictable—and yet ultimately navigable—this year has proven for some companies. When the pandemic first gripped China and then the world, travel firms such as Airbnb faced a drastic drop in demand. But then customers, some newly able to work remotely, started turning to Airbnb over hotels as a way to escape from cities or take a manageable vacation.
Airbnb cautioned, however, that a recent surge in Covid-19 infections in Europe could damp its prospects for the fourth quarter.
