Airbnb said Monday that it has actually raised $1 billion in debt and equity from private equity companies Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners, even as the online rental marketplace has seen its company plummet due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Terms of the offer were not revealed. It’s unclear how this financing might modify Airbnb’s previously shared strategies to go public.
COVID-19, the illness brought on by coronavirus, triggered federal governments throughout the world to release stay-at-home orders, activating a wave of cancellations in the travel and hospitality industries. Airbnb stressed that the funds would support its ongoing work to invest over the long term, a statement targeted at couching this raise as strategic and not a bailout in troubled times.
” While the current environment is plainly a tough one for the hospitality market, the desire to take a trip and have genuine experiences is fundamental and long-lasting,” Silver Lake co-CEO and handling partner Egon Durban said in a declaration. “Airbnb’s varied, worldwide, and resilient company design is particularly well matched to prosper as the world inevitably recuperates and we all get back out to experience it.”
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky acknowledged Monday that while the desire to link and travel has actually been strengthened throughout this time, the “way it manifests will develop as the world changes.”
Airbnb is wagering how and where people work will develop. As an outcome, the business said it will direct its attention and new funds toward three core items: hosts, long-term stays and Airbnb experiences.
Last month, Airbnb stated it would direct $250 million to help hosts who have been affected by COVID-19 Airbnb said this policy applies retroactively to all cancellations during that duration.
The relocation was an effort by Airbnb to apologize to its hosts who grumbled that the business’s policy would allow visitors to cancel appointments and receive a full refund. That policy, which is still active, lets guests who booked appointments on or before March 14 that begin anytime on or before May 31 to cancel and receive a basic refund or travel credit.
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