Airbnb Prices I.P.O. at $68 a Share - The New York Times

Airbnb priced its initial public offering on Wednesday at $68 a share, selling 51.5 million shares for $3.5 billion and valuing the home rental company at $47 billion. It is the largest I.P.O. of the year.

It was a far higher price than the company had originally set, indicating investor demand for the stock. Airbnb had initially put its price range at $44 to $50 a share, and on Monday it had raised that to $56 to $60 each.

The move came as DoorDash, another venture capital-backed start-up, surged 86 percent on its first day of trading on Wednesday. The delivery company had priced its offering at $102 a share and raised $3.4 billion.

Public market investors have been eager to back tech companies, particularly those that have thrived in the pandemic. More than 200 companies valued at more than $50 million have gone public so far this year, according to Renaissance Capital, which tracks I.P.O.s., marking the busiest year since 1999.

Airbnb plans to begin trading on Thursday on Nasdaq under the symbol “ABNB.”

The investor demand for Airbnb’s stock marks a turnaround for the company, which saw its valuation slashed to $18 billion and revenue disappear amid the travel slowdown caused by the pandemic. The business began to recover later in the year.

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