In October 2007, in
San Francisco, to help fund their rent payments, roommates and former schoolmates
Brian Chesky and
Joe Gebbia came up with an idea of putting an
air mattress in their living room and turning it into a
bed and breakfast during a conference held by the
Industrial Designers Society of America, when travelers had a hard time finding lodging in the city. After the idea was very successful, the pair realized that they had a possible business idea. In February 2008,
Nathan Blecharczyk, Chesky's former roommate, joined as the chief technology officer and the third co-founder of the new venture, which they named "AirBed & Breakfast". They put together a website that offered short-term living quarters and breakfast for those who were unable to book a hotel in the saturated market. After the founders raised $30,000 by selling cereal named after the two candidates of the
2008 United States presidential election,
Barack Obama and
John McCain, mostly at the 2008
Democratic National Convention, computer programmer
Paul Graham invited the founders to the January 2009 winter training session of his startup incubator,
Y Combinator, which provided them with training and $20,000 in funding in exchange for a 6% interest in the company. With the website already built, they used the Y Combinator investment to fly to New York to meet users and promote the site. In March 2009, the name of the company was shortened to Airbnb.com to eliminate confusion over air mattresses. In July 2014, Airbnb revealed design revisions to the site and mobile app and introduced a new logo. It also announced a partnership with Concur, an expense reporting service for businesses. In 2014, linguist
Mark Liberman criticized the extreme length of the legal agreements that Airbnb members are required to accept, with the site's
terms of service,
privacy policy, and other policies amounting to "55081 words, or about the size of a short novel, though much less readable". In April 2015, following the easing of restrictions on U.S. businesses to operate in
Cuba, Airbnb expanded to Cuba, making it one of the first U.S. companies to do so. In July 2016, former Attorney General
Eric Holder was hired to help craft an
anti-discrimination policy for Airbnb after reports showed that hosts were refusing to accept lodging requests from guests whose names suggested that they were black. As part of the reform, photos of prospective guests are hidden from hosts until requests for lodging are accepted. In November 2016, Airbnb launched "experiences", whereby users can use the platform to book activities. In January 2017, along with serial entrepreneurs
Gary Vaynerchuk, Ben Leventhal and Mike Montero, Airbnb led a $13 million investment in
Resy, a restaurant reservation-booking app. In May 2017, the company launched Airbnbmag, a magazine co-published with
Hearst Communications. In August 2017, Airbnb cancelled numerous bookings, and closed accounts belonging to attendees of the
white supremacist Unite the Right rally organized by
Jason Kessler in
Charlottesville, Virginia, citing its
terms of service in which members must "accept people regardless of their race,
religion, national origin,
ethnicity,
disability, sex,
gender identity, sexual orientation, or age." In February 2018, the company announced Airbnb Plus, a collection of homes vetted for quality of services, comfort and design, as well as Beyond by Airbnb, which offers luxury vacation rentals. By October 2019, two million people were staying with Airbnb each night. In April 2019, Airbnb produced and financed
Gay Chorus Deep South, a documentary launched by its Rausch Street Films division. The rights were sold to
MTV, which aired the program on its network. During the
COVID-19 pandemic, bookings dropped as much as 96% in some cities. However, bookings rose in many rural areas. The company pledged $250 million in payouts to hosts to compensate them for guest cancellations due to the pandemic. The company also
laid off approximately 1,900 employees, or about 25% of its workforce in the Americas, Europe, and Asia due to the pandemic. On December 10, 2020, Airbnb became a
public company via an
initial public offering, raising $3.5 billion on
Nasdaq. Shares valued at $238 million were offered to hosts on the platform at the price of $68 per share. Airbnb was one of the 15 leading sponsors of the
2022 Winter Olympics, held in
Beijing, and was asked by human rights activists and groups to drop its sponsorship in March 2021 as part of diplomatic and activist
boycotts over alleged
human rights violations by the
Chinese Communist Party, in particular the
persecution of Uyghurs in China. These requests were ignored by the company. In March 2022, Airbnb suspended business in
Russia and
Belarus due to
international sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In May 2022, Airbnb ceased operations in
China because of complicated and expensive laws and regulations that required Airbnb to send detailed information on guests to the
government of China, which can be used to track people, as well as a decline in business due to
COVID-19 lockdowns; China represented less than 1% of revenue for Airbnb. Airbnb was accused of being too willing to provide information to Chinese authorities, which led to the resignation of an Airbnb executive, who was also a former deputy director of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2019 after 6 months of working. Airbnb had also been accused of allowing listings on land owned by the
Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a Chinese state-owned paramilitary entity sanctioned under the
Magnitsky Act for involvement in the
persecution of Uyghurs in China. In 2019, certain hosts in China were accused of discrimination by refusing to rent to
Uyghurs. After temporarily banning parties in homes rented on the platform in August 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, in June 2022, Airbnb announced that it would permanently ban parties and events in homes on its platform, a position supported by hosts and their neighbors who complained of nuisances at Airbnb properties. In August 2022, Airbnb rolled out technology to enforce this ban. In January 2021, Airbnb allowed attendees of the
January 6 United States Capitol attack to book units on the platform in the
Washington metropolitan area, despite most hotels in the vicinity of
Capitol Hill banning
far-right extremists. After the possibility of further violence during the
Inauguration of Joe Biden, Airbnb announced the day after the
January 6 United States Capitol attack that it was banning all bookings in the region prior to the inauguration. In February 2025, Airbnb cofounder and board member
Joe Gebbia joined the
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Concern that Gebbia's work for DOGE undermines U.S. democracy resulted in calls to boycott Airbnb. In June 2025, Airbnb became a sponsor of the
FIFA Club World Cup in a 3-year partnership to offer "official fan accommodation" at the
2026 FIFA World Cup, which the US is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, and the
2027 FIFA Women's World Cup in Brazil.
Acquisitions Corporate office history In October 2011, Airbnb established an office in
London, its first international office. In early 2012, Airbnb opened offices in
Paris,
Milan,
Barcelona,
Copenhagen,
Moscow, and
São Paulo. These openings were in addition to existing offices in San Francisco, London,
Hamburg, and
Berlin. In September 2013, the company announced that it would establish its European headquarters in
Dublin. In November 2012, Airbnb opened an office in
Sydney, its 11th office location, and announced plans to launch the service in
Thailand and
Indonesia. In December 2012, Airbnb opened an office in
Singapore. In April 2022, Airbnb instituted a policy of unlimited
remote working for almost all its employees.
Share sales, corporate borrowing and valuation history In April 2009, the company received $600,000 in
seed money from
Sequoia Capital, with Youniversity Ventures partners
Jawed Karim,
Keith Rabois, and
Kevin Hartz participating. Shares were sold for $0.01 each. In November 2010,
Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital invested $7.2 million in a
Series A round. Shares were sold for $0.21 each (split adjusted). Additional funding was provided by
Andreessen Horowitz,
Sequoia Capital,
Dragoneer Investment Group,
T. Rowe Price, and
Sherpa Capital. Shares in this round were sold for $20.36 each (split adjusted). Shares in this round were sold for $46.55 each (split adjusted). Shares in this round were sold for $52.50 each (split adjusted). Shares in this round were sold for $52.50 each (split adjusted). and $1 billion in debt at interest rates of 9%–11.5%. ==Regulations==