Airbnb on Tuesday announced a $349 million loss in the fourth quarter due to an income tax settlement with Italy, but bookings and revenue rose and the short-term rental giant said demand remained strong.
The company expects first-quarter sales to meet or exceed Wall Street expectations.
However, the pace of booking growth is likely to “slow down” from the fourth quarter to the first quarter, and the early arrival of Easter could have a negative impact on growth in the second quarter, Airbnb said. Bee stated.
CEO Brian Chesky said on a conference call with analysts that Airbnb is “perfecting” its business by increasing pricing transparency, curbing exorbitant cleaning fees and reducing host cancellations. Told. We are currently planning initiatives that go beyond that core.
Chesky said the company will also build rental platforms in countries where it is not as strong as the United States. He said trials are already underway in Germany, Brazil and South Korea, and trials will soon be held in Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.
“But this is just one part of a larger strategy, because we’ve always believed that Airbnb was destined to be more than just a place to stay,” he says.
However, Chesky did not provide any details about the “multi-year journey”, only giving promising news for later this year. Rival companies like Vrbo’s parent company, Booking Holdings Inc., and Expedia Group Inc. also make money from things like flight and rental car listings.
The company posted a loss in the fourth quarter, compared with a profit of $319 million in the same period last year. Recent results were hampered by his $1 billion in one-time withholding expenses and lodging tax provisions.
Vacation rental platform revealed in December announced that it would pay 576 million euros ($621 million at the time) to the Italian tax authorities to settle a lawsuit over withholding taxes from Italian property owners. Airbnb has denied any wrongdoing, and company officials say they have no similar liability in other countries.
Excluding special expenses, Airbnb announced it would have earned $489 million.
Revenue rose 17% to $2.22 billion, beating the $2.17 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet. The number of reservations increased by 12%, and the average daily rate increased by 3%.
Airbnb expects first-quarter revenue to be between $2.03 billion and $2.07 billion. Analysts had expected $2.03 billion.
The company said demand remains strong, especially among new users of the site. Bookings rose 12% year-on-year, rebounding after a “volatile” October period when economic uncertainty and the start of war in Israeli-occupied Gaza cast doubt on travel demand.
Airbnb said its growth is accelerating in less mature and “low-penetration markets,” such as Brazil, where domestic bookings have nearly doubled since late 2019.
Total bookings were $15.5 billion, slightly ahead of analysts’ expectations of $15.2 billion.
The San Francisco company added about 1.2 million properties last year, bringing its total to more than 7.7 million, with the highest growth rate in Asia Pacific and Latin America.
The company announced that its board of directors has approved a stock repurchase program of up to $6 billion.
Airbnb stock initially soared in after-hours trading on Tuesday, but has since retreated and was down 5% two hours after the close of regular trading.