Airbnb posts first profitable year as travel rebounds

Airbnb on Tuesday reported its first annual profit, with revenue surging in the final three months of 2022 as travel bookings rebounded.

The home-rental platform said it made a profit of $319 million in the final quarter of last year on revenue of nearly $2 billion.

Airbnb finished 2022 with net income of $1.9 billion compared with a loss of $352 million the prior year, the San Francisco-based company reported.

"We are excited to see the continued strong demand in (the first quarter of this year)," Airbnb said in a letter to investors.

"We're particularly encouraged by European guests booking their summer travel earlier this year; the market share gains we are seeing in Latin America, as well as the continued recovery within Asia Pacific."

Airbnb shares were up more than nine percent in after-market trade after the earnings figures came out.

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People are getting back to crossing international borders and visiting cities in forms of travel that were "Airbnb's bread and butter before the pandemic," company chief executive Brian Chesky said on an earnings call.

Airbnb in mid-2020 slashed one fourth of its workforce -- some 1,900 people -- as the coronavirus pandemic crushed the travel industry.

Chesky said in a blog post at the time that "global travel came to a standstill" as the Covid-19 crisis unfolded.

Airbnb ended last year with 6.6 million active listings of lodgings for rent, an all time high, as home owners seek to make extra money in tough economic conditions, according to the letter to shareholders.

Late last year, Airbnb made it easier for people to offer their homes for rent on its platform.

Source: AFP