| What Airbnb's IPO filing reveals |
| | Good morning,
After 12 years of proving that people will indeed pay actual money to rent a spare bedroom in a stranger's home, Airbnb is fixing to sell that idea to the masses by way of an initial public offering.
Some project the IPO could net the company $3 billion at a $30 billion valuation. And while it remains to be seen what its listing price--or even its valuation--will be, much can be gleaned from the San Francisco-based home-sharing giant's S-1 initial registration form. For example: You really can keep control of your company as you raise money.
Airbnb's founders--Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk--still control 43.6 percent of the voting power of their company. And the IPO won't change who's ultimately in charge. After the IPO, the founders will each have shares worth 20 votes. Most other shares will have one vote.
This is an uncommon success all by itself, given that they've raised a total of $6.4 billion from 67 investors. Obviously, not every founding team is going to manage this, but the experience of the Airbnb founders shows that if your company is doing well enough, it is possible. Once the business goes public, there will be no doubt who’s running it.
Read our story to learn how Airbnb’s founders pulled it off--plus, more noteworthy strategies the company used to become a juggernaut. |
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