Manasi VarmaAirbnb Insiders Sell Shares, Company Shares Fall
Airbnb, the online marketplace for lodgings, from vacation rentals to tourist activities, saw quite a significant dip in shares on Monday, with its shares falling by as much as 6 per cent. The reason being that the company’s insiders and share owners, finally became free to sell their shares. This is the first time they have had the liberty to sell their shares, since the company wrapped up its IPO back in December last year.
The trade was a very significant one, with stocks worth almost $3.3 billion moving around between sellers and buyers. This was a major jump as compared to the last 20 or so sessions, wherein the total values traded have fallen below $1 billion. As of yesterday, Wall Street reported this trade to be among its top 5 for mid-day.
Good Growth in First Quarter
This comes after the company managed to perform better than expected in terms of gross bookings for the first quarter of the fiscal year, as revealed in May 13. The reason for the same has been cited to decreasing COVID restrictions across the world with improved vaccination facilities, which seem to have encouraged people to take a vacation.
92% Up, but 40% Down
As of Monday, despite being 40% down from its high in February, the company was still placed at around 92% higher as compared to the price it had set in December during its IPO. The shares on Monday first fell to as low as 130.25, before rising up slightly to 133 around mid-day, a crash of some 5.7%.
Airbnb’s public offering last year had been the largest that had been recorded by Wall Street last year. In its prospectus leading up to the same, the company had reported that as many as 27.8 million shares were up for sale, including those owned by insiders and employees, on the second day of trading.