Airbnb Is Accelerating Dealmaking

Airbnb is on a mission to be more than a home-sharing platform, according to Bloomberg. It wants to be a flight booker, an itinerary planner and a vacation-home manager. To become a global travel behemoth, Airbnb is considering a combination of acquisitions and partnership deals to quickly grow its portfolio, according to three people with knowledge of Airbnb's plans.

The company's targets are in luxury tourism, airfare aggregation, group payments and guest-management, said the people, who asked not to be identified because Airbnb hasn't authorized them to speak publicly. Airbnb is also focused on doing deals in China and India, the people said.

Airbnb declined to comment on specifics of its business plans. "We are always looking to provide our community with access to new and different options, but we have no announcements to make," Nick Papas, a spokesman for Airbnb, wrote in an e-mail. One of the people said acquisitions are not a material part of the company's strategy and that Airbnb does not believe it needs to rely on acquisitions to grow.

New product categories would generate alternative revenue sources. Over the last few years, after pressure from regulators, Airbnb agreed to place limits on how long hosts can rent their homes to travelers in certain cities. Officials in London, New York, Amsterdam, San Francisco and Barcelona have claimed Airbnb’s short-term rentals violate local zoning laws and displace long-term residents. The policymakers continue to seek laws that could place considerable restrictions on Airbnb’s money-making ability.

Airbnb became profitable in the second half of 2016, when revenue at the company increased more than 80 percent that year, Bloomberg reported. The company expects to remain profitable in 2017. Since launching in 2008, the home- and apartment-rental company has raised $3.1 billion in capital, and still has nearly all its funding, three investors said. The investors asked not to be identified because they have signed non-disclosure agreements.