Airbnb Jumps as Revenue Grows 19% and the Board Adds a $12 Billion Buyback

Airbnb (ABNB) climbed to roughly $190.60 by early Friday afternoon, up about 12% from Thursday’s close of $170.13. The move followed a third-quarter report the company released after Thursday’s bell. Revenue grew 19%, and the board cleared another $12 billion to buy back stock. Investors liked both.

Revenue grew 19%, bookings 16%

Airbnb posted third-quarter revenue of $4.9 billion, a 19% increase from a year earlier, or 16% once currency swings are stripped out. Net income was $1.9 billion, and diluted earnings came to $3.16 a share. Guests booked 155.0 million nights and seats during the quarter, 16% more than a year ago, and the total value of those bookings reached $27.7 billion, up 21%. Free cash flow was $1.4 billion, a margin of 29%. Every top-line measure rose. Booking value grew faster than revenue, 21% against 19%, a gap that tracks the softer take rate below.

The company’s take rate, the slice of booking value it keeps as revenue, eased to 17.6%. Airbnb tied that to guests reserving trips further ahead under its Reserve Now, Pay Later option, which pushes some revenue into later quarters rather than signaling softer pricing.

The $12 billion the board set aside

Alongside the numbers, Airbnb’s board authorized a new program to repurchase up to $12 billion of Class A stock, on top of the $2.7 billion still available under an earlier authorization. That is a large sum. Buybacks reduce the share count and lift per-share figures over time. An authorization of that size is also a statement about how much cash the company expects to keep generating, and markets tend to read a fresh commitment on that scale as confidence from management. Repurchases return cash to shareholders and can steady a stock when sentiment turns.

A stock already at its highs

ABNB did not arrive at Friday cheap. The shares had risen 21% over the prior 30 trading sessions and 28% over the last three months, and Thursday’s $170.13 close sat just under the stock’s 52-week high of $193.45. Friday’s intraday price pushed within 1.5% of that peak.

Trading had already been heavy heading into the report. Thursday’s 9.2 million shares changed hands at 2.4 times the stock’s 20-day average, the kind of volume that tends to build ahead of an earnings date. Airbnb carries a market value of about $114 billion. Its 52-week low, set earlier in the year, was $99.88. The rally caps a strong run. The stock has nearly doubled from that low, climbing back through the summer before Friday’s report carried it toward record territory.

What to watch

Airbnb guided to fourth-quarter revenue of $3.22 billion to $3.28 billion, which would mark growth of 16% to 18% and includes a small currency tailwind. That range is the next test. Friday’s close will show whether the early rally holds into the weekend, and the company’s next quarterly report is due in February 2027. Until then, the newly expanded repurchase program leaves a standing buyer in the market.

This is a general-market summary for information only — not investment advice, and not a recommendation regarding any security.