Airbnb to Mark First Year of Profitability Thanks to Booming Business in China, Top Trending Country for Travelers on New Year's Eve
Xu Wei
DATE:  Dec 20 2017
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Airbnb to Mark First Year of Profitability Thanks to Booming Business in China, Top Trending Country for Travelers on New Year's Eve Airbnb to Mark First Year of Profitability Thanks to Booming Business in China, Top Trending Country for Travelers on New Year's Eve

(Yicai Global) Dec. 20 -- Airbnb Inc. is to embrace its first year of profitability, attributed to its rapidly growing China business. 2017 will mark the home-sharing platform's first year of profits, the company executives announced. Bookings in China recorded 180 percent growth in the third quarter of this year. Home-sharing platform's performance will raise hopes among investors who fund tech startups.  

 "The third quarter was the strongest quarter in the company's history and this year, we will be profitable, as measured by EBITDA [Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization]," said Laurence Tosi, the chief financial officer of Airbnb.

The number of clients reached one million in the third quarter, making China the Airbnb's second fastest growing market after Cuba. In contrast, home-sharing platform had 10,000 clients in China in the third quarter of 2014.

Airbnb Inc. is working to make China its number one market by 2020 after increasing its number of listed lodgings in the country two-fold this year, according to the home-sharing platform's co-founder. Airbnb has 150,000 properties in the country, Chinese news portal Sina reported Nathan Blecharczyk as saying in Guangzhou on Dec. 9. That compares with just 10,000 three years ago. User numbers almost quadrupled to 2.25 million this year, said Blecharczyk, who is also the company's chief strategy officer.

China is also the top trending country for travelers on New Year's Eve, with Suzhou, located near Shanghai, taking the top spot, Airbnb revealed.

The home-sharing platform's overall 2017 profits are expected to be up 50 percent from last year, some media reports quoted insiders familiar with the company's financials as saying.

In March, Airbnb raised USD1 billion in its F-round of financing, bringing its valuation to USD31 billion, higher than those of Hilton and Hyatt, two listed hotel giants, representing investors' confidence in the startup as opposed to the fortunes of the likes of Uber and Spotify.

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Keywords:   Airbnb,TOURISM,HOTEL,PROFIT