The cover of Airbnb's Q4 2023 earnings report is illustrated with fireworks.
The company has a lot to celebrate.
Despite extraordinary losses in the last part of the year, the accommodation firm founded in 2008 by Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk and Joe Gebbia in their home in San Francisco has become a very profitable giant.
It closed 2023 with revenues of $9,917 million, 18% more than the previous year, and shattered its profit record, with a net result of $4,792 million, 153% more than in 2022, which was its first year. complete profitability.
Still, the company announces plans to reinvent itself by entering businesses that go beyond accommodation.
“We believe now is the time to expand beyond our core business and reinvent Airbnb.
Although this will be a gradual multi-year journey, we are excited to share more about this later in 2024,” the company notes cryptically in its letter to shareholders.
“Airbnb is at an inflection point.
“We have spent the last three years perfecting our core service, and now we are ready to embark on our next chapter,” he says.
Asked about possible diversification plans, Airbnb's slim director, Brian Chesky, already anticipated a few months ago in an interview with EL PAÍS that they were analyzing it.
“We are looking at a lot of new product and service opportunities.
We don't have anything I can share right now.
But the general approach I've had is that the more people like what you do, the more they want other things from you,” he said.
Beyond entering new businesses, Airbnb is also embarking on geographic diversification.
“To unlock more growth opportunities, we are investing in underpenetrated international markets, and we are seeing great results,” he says in his earnings report.
“Following the success achieved in recent quarters in Germany, Brazil and Germany, Brazil and Korea, we are expanding our strategy to countries such as Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Belgium and the Netherlands,” he adds.
In the fourth quarter of the year, Airbnb has continued to grow strongly, 17%, to 2,218 million dollars, but it has reported losses of 349 million that the company attributes to exceptional tax items of about 1,000 million dollars.
Fourth-quarter adjusted gross operating income of $738 million increased 46% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, driven by business strength and discipline in cost structure management.
The company has successfully overcome the pandemic crisis.
In 2020, revenue plummeted and the company suffered losses of $4,585 million due to the stoppage in travel caused by the health crisis.
But since that fateful year, Airbnb has come back strong.
It reduced the red numbers to 352 million in 2021 and in 2022 it achieved the first annual profits in its history, of 1,892 million, after growing 40% in revenue, up to 8,399 million dollars, more than double that of 2020, the year of the pandemic.
Now, it achieves record revenues and profits and launches into new businesses.
[Breaking news.
There will be an update soon]
Follow all the information on
Economy
and
Business
on
and
X
, or in our
weekly newsletter