Airbnb is one of the big anticipated IPOs of next year and it's finally giving the public a taste of its revenue for the first time in its ten year history.
The home-sharing startup recognized "substantially more" than $1 billion in revenue in the third quarter, according to a memo to be publicly released by Airbnb Friday. That would make it the company's strongest quarter since it was established in 2008.
While other large private companies like Uber and WeWork have started to release more of their financial information ahead of public market debuts, Airbnb has held back. The company wouldn't comment on profitability or other data points, though a spokesperson told CNBC, "we'll continue to provide updates regarding our work as we go forward."
But according to one person close to the company's financials, Airbnb is on track to be profitable for the second straight year, as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. In 2017, the company posted $100 million in profit on $2.6 billion in revenue, said the source.
Airbnb has been without a CFO since February when Laurence Tosi left, raising questions about who might help take Airbnb public when it is ready. He was highly regarded by Wall Street and helped turn the start-up profitable on an EBITA basis during his tenure.
CEO Brian Chesky said the company would be ready to go public by mid-2019, but the company hasn't decided when. Airbnb is one of the most valuable start-ups in the US at $31 billion.
Persian
