Airbnb IPO Launch Date and Expected Share Price

[Sharon1014]

Launch date appears set for December 10.  Expected share price $44-50.  The company has also submitted an amended S-1 filing to the SEC yesterday which you can see here (and nope, I'm not trawling through all 350 pages of it to play "spot the difference" 😀, will leave that to the finance journos and market analysts)

S-1/A (sec.gov)

@Melodie-And-John0  @Christine615  @Helen350  @Sally221  @Sarah977  @Ute42 @Zohreh1 @Emiel1 

[Sharon1014]

@Beckey0   Many other hosts who know what the company is actually up to are not buying stock and going "hell, no!".  While you may currently believe that you "truly missed out on something huge here", the "something huge" could in fact be losing half (or more) of your investment.  

And I think that's the kicker for many hosts.  You believe that the company is attempting to include hosts in its IPO as some kind of special treat.  But is it?  Or are the mom 'n pop investors just fodder acting as banker for a company that is teetering on the brink of insolvency?  Just be conscious that the financial markets are ruthless and will slice 'n dice this company to bits if they believe the company's books don't stack up.

[Beckey0]

That is an interesting perspective and I appreciate your input.  I am also a mom & pop and will not invest more than I am willing to lose.  I wish Airbnb would have kept the platform as intended with nothing but personal homes/rooms and vacation properties to be rented. I am disappointed that it has turned into large corporations buying out several homes, adding to the housing shortage simply to rent out as vacation spots. My under age 30 sons are struggling to find anything affordable here in Western Washington. Allowing larger companies to use the platform in this way has certainly added to this problem.

[Sharon1014]

@Beckey0   Good to hear, and I agree.   I think many of the true authentic local hosts are appalled by the company's major gear shift into the hotel and property conglomerate market, to the detriment of the very hosts the company is now trying to hang its hat on purely for the IPO purposes because the marketing / PR sounds so warm 'n fuzzy but in fact has zero resemblance to the truth.

One of the major issues is the way the company is marketing itself to investors, saying 90% of its listings are individual hosts, when in fact, we all know this is complete bs.  Many of the major cities are choked with the property conglomerates like Sonder et al, and these large scale operators with remote co-host property managers produce very poor quality outcomes for guests.  Authentic local hosts on the other hand, produce consistently high quality outcomes specifically because they are present and hands-on.  But the number of these are more in the vicinity of 20% of listings, not the 90% the company portrays. 

And then we can add that many of those 20% authentic local hosts are in fact multiple listed on other platforms and not exclusive to ABNB at all.  But there is no breakdown or mention of this in the prospectus.

ABNB does also have multiple regulation issues as head winds, particularly in the large cities from whence it derives much of its revenue.  Many local govt's are seeking to limit the number of bnb's specifically because their proliferation has done exactly what you describe regarding your sons.  The regulatory issues will have a significant impact on the "scalability" of the business both medium and long term.

Not looking to be a harbinger of doom, but do just want people to do the homework.  It's not called "due diligence" for nothing.  Many just buy into the hype without bothering to look at the details, and that can be a costly learning experience.

[Allen107]

@Sharon1014 

Your financial analysis of both "the hype" and the particulars in Airbnb, Inc.'s 499-page prospectus have been unparalleled in my humble opinion. Question: if Airbnb cannot emerge with financial success once this pandemic is in the rear-view mirror and the leisure & hospitality industry rebound, do you expect to migrate your listing south of Adelaide to a competing home-sharing platform (e.g. Homestay, Home Swap, VRBO, etc.)?

Allen107 in Brownsville, OR

[Sharon1014]

@Allen107    Already have.  Activated Plan B a few weeks ago.  We were previously exclusive to ABNB, but don't want to end up on the list of creditors if the company goes under, nor indeed do we want the aggravation of dealing with CS if things go wrong and having to deal with this very guest-centric / host-hostile company.  Blocked our ABNB calendar from Feb 1 (bookings up until then, end of our summer school hols) and migrated our listing to Expedia Group (HomeAway/Stayz/VRBO).  Just in watch and wait/see mode at present as to whether we will permanently de-list from ABNB.

Thank you for the kind words, appreciated.

[Allen107]

@ Beckey0

Please see date-time-stamp post under Directed Share Program cc thread.

Ingrid38 in

Clifton, NJ

Level 2

‎23-11-2020 02:28 PM

She explains and offers a link to anyone interested in investing in its stock even if left out of the initial offering being selectively administered by Morgan Stanley.

Allen107 in Brownsville, OR

[Scott336]

@Denise-and-Tom1 @Beckey0 @Nick718 @Francis1870 

The Directed Shares Program info was sent to qualified US based hosts on Nov 16th.  According to Airbnb, if you did not receive this email, you did not qualify. On Dec 1, those hosts who 'registered' and expressed interest were sent info via email from Airbnb, then from Morgan Stanley with additional info and further instructions.  Those who went through the process thus far have been told that on 12/7 or 12/8 share pricing would be set and on 12/9 we could commit to purchase any number of the shares we (individual hosts) were actually offered (TBD at this time).  There is no lock-out period to sell other than for 2 days after the initial purchase on Dec 10.

Non-US based hosts will likely be able to purchase at the same, or close to, the IPO price through another boker.  You'll just have to pay the broker fees.  The Directed Shares Program here does not have any fees to open the Morgan Stanley account, or to purchase these stocks.  They DO charge a fee to SELL the stocks when you choose to do so.  That is $0.07 per share according to the docs I have.

Hope this helps...

[Nick718]

I did receive the email and registered, but I didn't get anything further. I'm not sure why / what happened. Was everyone who expressed interest supposed to get the Dec 1st email? 

[Francis1870]

@Nick718 

Same thing happened to me, I have lots of emails but the underwriter cannot find my name.  

[Francis1870]

@Scott336  @Scott 

Well I got the emails from Airbnb, but I have not got the email from Morgan Stanley.

So according to some department at Airbnb I am eligible.

According to Morgan Stanley I am not bc Morgan Stanley says Airbnb did not forward my name  to them.

So Airbnb  didn't send over my info and yet I keep getting emails from Airbnb telling me that I am eligible and registered for the program.  

See my email on Dec 1st below:  

Hi Francis,
Thanks for pre-registering for Airbnb’s Directed Share Program. Later today you’ll receive an email from Morgan Stanley, the broker-dealer that is administering our Directed Share Program. Morgan Stanley will contact you from morganstanleydsp@morganstanley.com, using the email you included in the pre-registration form. (Please do not reply or send messages to this email address.)

In the email, Morgan Stanley will provide an overview and timeline of the registration process as well as a link to a Morgan Stanley secure web portal, where you need to open a special brokerage account and complete registration should you wish to participate.

As a reminder, program capacity is limited and participation will be on a first-come, first-served basis, so please look out for Morgan Stanley’s email if you’re interested. Finally, there is significant interest in the program, so please only proceed with registering if you are planning to participate. If you have questions about the registration process, you can find Morgan Stanley’s frequently asked questions 

The Airbnb Team

[Beckey0]

I got both emails but was not in an area for internet until this morning. They must have sold out so fast that all of us did not get in.  I received "Thank you for your interest in participating in this Directed Share Program. Unfortunately, this program is now closed due to higher than expected demand".  I am disappointed that I did not get a longer notification time of when I was to sit directly in front of my computer to start clicking and filing the forms to purchase.  All sold out by the time I could get to it.

[Ilda-and-Mike0]

@Scott336 From what I read on the FAQ, there is no lock-out period to sell (the two days period is for settlement of the funds after sale), however, it says that we will need to contact our Financial Advisor to place a sell order. I wonder why they are not giving us an option to directly place a sell order online. The volume will probably be too high and the price will be very volatile the first few days.

 

[Sharon1014]

@Denise-and-Tom1   Most banks have stock brokerage facilities that can be attached to your regular banking account.  Enquire at your local bank.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has provisions that prevent pre-IPO share offers being made to people outside of the US.

[Nick718]

If we didn't get the email from MS yesterday, does that mean we aren't on the list? I did pre register in time. 

[Gina1492]

Same here.