On a day when Wall Street was falling hard, Airbnb handed investors something to cheer about. The vacation rental company reported third-quarter results that beat expectations, lifted its outlook for the year and unveiled a share repurchase program worth $12 billion. Its stock climbed about 11% in after-hours trading.
The numbers
Airbnb earned $3.16 per share in the three months to September 30, against $2.21 a year earlier and well above analyst forecasts of roughly $2.85. Revenue came in at $4.87 billion, ahead of the $4.75 billion Wall Street had expected. The company said it was its fastest rate of revenue growth in more than three years.
Shares had closed the regular session at $170.13, down about 3.5% amid the broader market slump. After the report they rose to roughly $188.87, within sight of the 52-week high of $193.45.
“Growth mode”
In his shareholder letter, chief executive Brian Chesky said the business is “back in growth mode,” a notable statement for a company that spent much of the past year fielding questions about whether its best expansion days were behind it.
Management also pointed to booking momentum. For the fourth quarter it expects revenue of $3.22 billion to $3.28 billion. That is lower than the third quarter’s total, but the holiday quarter is seasonally a smaller one for the company. Airbnb also guided to gross booking value, the total value of reservations made on its platform, growing at a mid-teens rate year on year. It expects an adjusted EBITDA margin of about 36% for the full year, according to figures published after the results.
The company also said that its business has been insulated from global conflicts so far, a line that suggests demand has held up despite geopolitical tension, according to a Dow Jones report.
The buyback
The $12 billion repurchase authorisation drew as much attention as the earnings. Buybacks reduce the number of shares in circulation and are commonly used by cash-rich companies to return capital to shareholders. A programme of this size signals confidence from management that the shares are undervalued and that the business will keep generating cash.
A stock under pressure, and then relief
The reaction was strong partly because sentiment toward the stock had been fragile. Airbnb’s shares are up roughly 41% over the past year, but they have dipped about 4% in the past three months. In early October, CNBC reported that travel platforms, Airbnb among them, came under pressure over fears that so-called agentic AI tools could one day book trips directly for consumers and bypass the major platforms. Whether that threat is real is still an open question, and Thursday’s strong numbers did little to settle it.
Chesky offered a glimpse of how the company is using the technology itself. He told CNBC that about 40% of customer support tickets are now handled by AI. For a platform with millions of listings and a large support operation, automation of that scale can cut costs and speed up responses.
Partnerships and demand
Airbnb has also been widening its reach. On October 22, American Express announced that Airbnb bookings and rewards would be available through the Amex Travel platform, giving the company access to a premium customer base. The results suggest that travellers are still spending on trips, even as many households watch their budgets.
What to watch
Analysts will be looking at three things in the coming quarters. The first is whether growth in bookings can stay in the mid-teens. The second is how quickly the buyback is carried out. The third is whether the company can defend its position if AI assistants start to play a larger role in travel planning.
For now, the picture is a company recovering its footing. In a market that spent Thursday looking for places to hide, Airbnb offered investors a reason to stay. The wider question, whether holiday travel can keep growing as technology reshapes how trips are booked, will play out over the quarters ahead.
