Airbnb this morning revealed its intention to become a publicly traded company in 2020. The home-sharing giant provided no additional details in making the announcement.
The news comes after a long period of speculation as to when exactly the company would go public. In May 2018, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said the company would “be ready to IPO” in 2019, according to Fortune. In March of this year, cofounder Nathan Blecharczyk told Business Insider that though the company was “taking steps to be ready to go public in 2019,” that did not necessarily mean it would.
Founded in 2008, Airbnb offers 7 million places to stay in more than 100,000 cities and 191 countries and regions. According to Reuters, the company reported more than $1 billion in revenue during Q2.
Airbnb has made a series of acquisitions and investments this year to beef up those numbers and its reach before the initial public offering. Earlier this year, TechCrunch reported Airbnb invested between $150 million and $200 million in Oyo Hotels & Homes, a company with more than 20,000 properties open worldwide. In April, the company bought the last-minute booking app HotelTonight and invested in Lyric, a San Francisco-based real estate and hospitality company. Last month, it revealed plans to acquire Urbandoor, an online marketplace that lists furnished and serviced apartments for longer-term stays.