Airbnb has announced that the company had a net loss of $4.6 billion in 2020, something that is not exactly a surprise considering the significant hit the global travel industry was dealt because of the pandemic.
In the short-term travel platform’s first earnings call as a publicly-traded company, Airbnb CEO, Brian Chesky commented on the future of the company and how its resilience has opened up new doors for the company, moving forward:
“We don’t think we’re ever going back to the world of travel in 2019. A world of Zoom is a world where people can work from home or any home on Airbnb.
“Many people are snow-birding.”
In 2020, Airbnb generated $3.4 billion in revenue, a decline of 30% year-over-year. Though the pandemic can be accredited to the majority of that loss, Airbnb’s stock compensation expenses it lost in its IPO in December 2020.
Before its earnings, Airbnb’s market capitalization was $108.8 billion with shares hitting $200 a share at the end of February.