Airbnb hikes its IPO pricing range and targets a $42 billion valuation

• Airbnb raised the pricing range for its initial public offering to $56 to $60 per share, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed.
• The home-rental platform was previously targeting a range of $44 to $50 a share.
• The increased range means Airbnb could raise as much as $3 billion during its stock-market debut on Thursday.
• DoorDash and Airbnb are aiming to raise over $3 billion this month, which would put them among the biggest IPOs of 2020.
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Airbnb increased the price range for its initial public offering this week to $56 to $60 per share, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing released Monday.

It previously planned to sell shares for $44 to $50 each, meaning its new range represents a 27% increase at the bottom end and a 20% increase at the top end.

The US-based home-rental company intends to sell 50 million shares via its public offering scheduled for Thursday. At the top end of the new range, it would raise up to $3 billion. That would set it up for a fully diluted valuation of $42 billion, which includes securities like options and restricted stock units.

Airbnb will list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ABNB.

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The targeted valuation is more than double Airbnb's most recent private valuation of $18 billion in the early weeks of the pandemic in April. It's also a significant premium to the $31 billion price tag it secured during a fundraising round in 2017.

Plans for Airbnb's new pricing range were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The food-delivery firm DoorDash also upped its IPO pricing range last week. The San Francisco-based company plans to sell 33 million shares at $90 to $95 per share, up from a target of $75 to $85 per share.

DoorDash's IPO is set for Tuesday, with its trading debut on the New York Stock Exchange the next day.

The two startups aim to raise a combined $6.2 billion at the top end of their pricing ranges. This would help bring December's IPO volume to a record, exceeding the $8.3 billion record set in both 2001 and 2003, Bloomberg reported.

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