Airbnb's initial public offering highlights the pandemic hit on bookings

Airbnb's initial public offering details highlights the pandemic hit on bookings.

But its been a long-awaited filing for an initial public offering in the United States showed that revenue growth had been slowing before the coronavirus pandemic.

The company is reportedly planning to raise as much as $US3 billion in December. Reuters reported the company could get a valuation of more than $US30 billion.

Airbnb plans for its shares to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol ABNB.

Airbnb's bookings bottomed in April, plummeting 72 per cent from the previous year.

By June, bookings were down 21 per cent year-over-year.

Trading in 100,000 cities, the filing states that 70 per cent of the company’s top 200 largest cities have some form of regulation on short-term rentals.

Airbnb had a net loss of $US697 million on revenue of $US2.5 billion for the nine-month period to September 30, compared with a net loss of $US323 million on revenue of $US3.7 billion for the same period last year, according to the filing.

The company's filing also confirmed its gross bookings for the nine months ended September 30 tumbled to $US18 billion, down close to 40 per cent on the same period last year.

Airbnb's offering will be led by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.