Airbnb aims at $35B valuation in public offering

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Airbnb wants to achieve a $35 billion market valuation in its initial public offering (IPO) later this month, according to a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The US online rental and vacation marketplace company plans to list a single share between $44 - $50 in its IPO, which could help achieve its valuation target.

The San Francisco-based company seeks to raise $2.5 billion in its IPO scheduled Dec. 9. It will start trading on the Nasdaq on Dec. 10 under the ABNB ticker.

Airbnb had a private valuation at $31 billion in 2017, but the coronavirus pandemic dramatically decreased global rental demand, forcing it in May to lay off 1,900 employees.

With positive vaccine news, the three US major indexes opened higher Tuesday as two quickly reached new highs.

The Dow Jones was up 1.45% at 30,069 points at 10.25 a.m. EDT (1525 GMT). And the S&P 500 climbed 1.5% to an all-time high of 3,676 points.

The Nasdaq increased 1.1% to a new record of 12,333 with Facebook, Apple, Netflix and Tesla each soaring more than 2%.

An Amnesty International report published earlier in 2019 accused Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and TripAdvisor of profiting from ''war crimes'' by offering services in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory.

“In doing business with settlements, all four companies are contributing to, and profiting from, the maintenance, development and expansion of illegal settlements, which amount to war crimes under international criminal law,” the report said.