Ahead of IPO, Airbnb achieves profitability for second year in a row

Airbnb, which is expected to go public this year, announced today a number of milestones. For starters, Airbnb says it was profitable on an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) basis for the second year in a row in 2018.

In Q3 2018, Airbnb said it had its strongest quarter ever, where it saw "substantially more" than $1 billion in revenue. The following quarter, Airbnb found a replacement for former CFO Laurence Tosi, who left amid tension between him and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. To lead the home-sharing giant into its next phase, Airbnb brought on Dave Stephenson, a long-time Amazon executive.

"He will use his experience in growing large businesses quickly at scale to ensure we are investing for both growth and long-term profitability," Airbnb wrote in a press memo today.

Airbnb also announced it expects to hit 500 million arrivals by the end of Q1 2019.

Airbnb aims to be 'ready' to go public from June 30, 2019, creates cash bonus program for staff