Airbnb has announced that it is putting off its planned initial public offering (IPO) until 2020.
The short-term rental company said in a news release that it plans to go public next year but did not offer any further details about what stock exchange it would list shares on or how much money it hopes to raise in the process. There had been speculation that Airbnb would go public by the end of 2019.
Airbnb is the latest company in the so-called "sharing economy" to go public following the IPOS this past spring of ride-hailing firms Uber and Lyft, and the potential IPO of office space company WeWork that is planned for later this autumn.
Shares of Uber (NYSE: UBER) and Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) slumped after going public, with investors questioning the two companies' growth potential and lack of profitability. WeWork was forced to delay its IPO after the valuation plummeted over fears the company may never turn a profit.
Airbnb, which allows online rental bookings of rooms and properties to people looking for short-term stays, has disrupted the hotel and tourism industry. The company was founded in San Francisco in 2008. Users of Airbnb pay property owners for their short-term stays, similar to the way hotels work, and the company takes a percentage of each deal as a fee.
This week, the company said it took in more than $1 billion U.S. in revenue for the second quarter of 2019 but has declined to say if it is currently profitable. It has previously said its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was positive for 2017 and 2018.
