Airbnb cites remote work for record income, $1.5B in Q4 revenue

Short-term rental company Airbnb reported its most profitable fourth quarter ever and $55 million in net income to close out the year, telling investors that remote work continued to aid the company’s massive growth.

The company generated $1.5 billion in total revenue, which it said was 38 percent higher than the last quarter before the pandemic temporarily disrupted travel and impacted earnings.

That capped off a year that saw $6 billion in total revenue, $1.6 billion in adjusted EBIDTA and $47 billion gross booking value, which the company said was a result of rapid changes to the travel industry.

“Nearly two years into the pandemic, it’s now clear that we are undergoing the biggest change to travel since the advent of commercial flying,” the company said in a statement to investors. “Remote work has untethered many people from the need to be in an office every day. As a result, people are spreading out to thousands of towns and cities, staying for weeks, months, or even entire seasons at a time. For the first time ever, millions of people can now live anywhere.”

The company is the second this month to report that travelers appear to be growing used to living and traveling despite new coronavirus variants and case surges. The Expedia Group reported a similar finding last week, when it also reported strong revenue in the quarter.

Fourth quarter revenue was 80 percent higher than in the same quarter a year before.

Revenue for the company reached an all-time high in the third quarter, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. The company generated $834 million in net income that quarter, an increase of 280 percent year over year and $2.2 billion in revenue, which was up 67 percent year over year.

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