Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABNB) — research brief (BMC #084 on gallery, queue id 84)

Prepared 2026-10-11 (America/Chicago). Labels: FACT = stated by the company in its Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (audited), its Q4 2025 shareholder letter (8-K Exhibit 99.1, Feb 12, 2026) or its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 Jun 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026, unaudited). SECONDARY = none used for figures. INFERENCE = ratios, growth rates or sums computed by this project from company numbers.

Sources (accessed 2026-10-11)

Form 10-K FY2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1559720/000155972026000004/abnb-20251231.htm
Q4 2025 shareholder letter (8-K Ex. 99.1): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1559720/000119312526048670/d58192dex991.htm
Form 10-Q, quarter ended 30 Jun 2026: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1559720/000155972026000027/abnb-20260630.htm
Logo: project monogram ("A" on a coral tile), not Airbnb's official mark. Trademark of its owner; identification only.

Teaching arc

Own no property: let hosts list homes, experiences and services, hold the guest's money until check-in, take a service fee (now mostly a single 15.5% host-paid fee) of about 13 cents per booked dollar, and earn interest on the cash in the meantime — then spend it on marketing, product and buybacks.

Key numbers (FACT unless noted)

FY2025 (year ended Dec 31, 2025)

Revenue $12,241M (2024 $11,102M, +10%; 2023 $9,917M). U.S. $4,814M, international $7,427M (international about 61%, INFERENCE).
Gross Booking Value (GBV) $91.3B (+12%, +10% ex-FX; 2024 $81.8B). Nights and Seats Booked 533.0M (+8%; 2024 491.5M). Revenue / GBV about 13.4% (INFERENCE); Q4 2025 implied take rate 13.6% (company-stated).
Costs and expenses $9,697M: cost of revenue $2,086M, operations and support $1,327M, product development $2,354M, sales and marketing $2,588M (brand and performance marketing $1,595M; field operations and policy $993M), G&A $1,342M. Merchant fees rose $188M.
Income from operations $2,544M (2024 $2,553M; margin 20.8% is INFERENCE). Interest income $705M; other expense, net $112M; income before taxes $3,137M; tax $626M. Net income $2,511M (2024 $2,648M; -5% is INFERENCE; 21% margin company-stated). Diluted EPS $4.03.
Operating cash flow $4,646M; FCF $4,613M (38% margin). Share repurchases $3,789M cash; taxes paid on equity awards $561M. Cash, equivalents, short-term investments and restricted cash $11.0B plus $7.0B funds held on behalf of customers (Dec 31, 2025).
About 8,200 employees; about 13,000 third-party workers support most community-support contacts.
Fee structure: split fee (host about 3% plus separate guest fee) historically; single-fee model started Oct 2025; PMS hosts migrated from 3% split to 15.5% single fee beginning Oct 2025; most non-PMS single-fee hosts on 15.5% as of December. Guest travel insurance revenue +~40% in FY25 (12 countries).
Q4 2025: app bookings 64% of nights booked (60% a year earlier); app nights booked +20%; first-time bookers +8%; Reserve Now, Pay Later adoption over 70% of eligible U.S. bookings (share of global GBV); almost half of experiences bookings not attached to a stay.
More than 5.5M hosts, over 2.5B guest arrivals, 220+ countries and regions (10-Q Q2 2026 overview).

H1 / Q2 2026 (10-Q, unaudited)

Revenue H1 $6,286M (H1 2025 $5,368M, +17%, INFERENCE from figures); Q2 $3,608M vs $3,096M (+17%).
GBV H1 $56,434M (+18%); Q2 $27,247M (+16%). Nights and Seats Booked H1 305M (+10%); Q2 148M (+10%).
Income from operations H1 $844M (vs $650M); Q2 $758M (vs $612M). Net income H1 $976M (vs $796M); Q2 $816M (vs $642M) including a $77M tax benefit.
OCF H1 $2,978M; FCF H1 $2,957M. Share repurchases H1 $2,139M; $3.4B authorization left. Issued $2,478M of long-term debt and repaid $2,000M in H1. Funds held on behalf of customers $12.2B at Jun 30, 2026.
Sales and marketing +27% in Q2, +30% in H1 on paid growth marketing in emerging markets and partnerships.

Cautions

GBV is an operating metric, not revenue; revenue is recognized at check-in, so growth in revenue lags growth in GBV, and the ratio of H1 revenue to H1 GBV (about 11%) is seasonal and not comparable with the full-year ratio.
Interest income is below operating income and is not revenue.
Nights and Seats Booked mixes stays with seats for experiences and services.

# Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABNB) — research brief (BMC #084 on gallery, queue id 84) Prepared 2026-10-11 (America/Chicago). Labels: **FACT** = stated by the company in its Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (audited), its Q4 2025 shareholder letter (8-K Exhibit 99.1, Feb 12, 2026) or its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 Jun 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026, unaudited). **SECONDARY** = none used for figures. **INFERENCE** = ratios, growth rates or sums computed by this project from company numbers. ## Sources (accessed 2026-10-11) - Form 10-K FY2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1559720/000155972026000004/abnb-20251231.htm - Q4 2025 shareholder letter (8-K Ex. 99.1): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1559720/000119312526048670/d58192dex991.htm - Form 10-Q, quarter ended 30 Jun 2026: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1559720/000155972026000027/abnb-20260630.htm - Logo: project monogram ("A" on a coral tile), **not** Airbnb's official mark. Trademark of its owner; identification only. ## Teaching arc **Own no property: let hosts list homes, experiences and services, hold the guest's money until check-in, take a service fee (now mostly a single 15.5% host-paid fee) of about 13 cents per booked dollar, and earn interest on the cash in the meantime — then spend it on marketing, product and buybacks.** ## Key numbers (FACT unless noted) **FY2025 (year ended Dec 31, 2025)** - Revenue $12,241M (2024 $11,102M, +10%; 2023 $9,917M). U.S. $4,814M, international $7,427M (international about 61%, INFERENCE). - Gross Booking Value (GBV) $91.3B (+12%, +10% ex-FX; 2024 $81.8B). Nights and Seats Booked 533.0M (+8%; 2024 491.5M). Revenue / GBV about 13.4% (INFERENCE); Q4 2025 implied take rate 13.6% (company-stated). - Costs and expenses $9,697M: cost of revenue $2,086M, operations and support $1,327M, product development $2,354M, sales and marketing $2,588M (brand and performance marketing $1,595M; field operations and policy $993M), G&A $1,342M. Merchant fees rose $188M. - Income from operations $2,544M (2024 $2,553M; margin 20.8% is INFERENCE). Interest income $705M; other expense, net $112M; income before taxes $3,137M; tax $626M. Net income $2,511M (2024 $2,648M; -5% is INFERENCE; 21% margin company-stated). Diluted EPS $4.03. - Operating cash flow $4,646M; FCF $4,613M (38% margin). Share repurchases $3,789M cash; taxes paid on equity awards $561M. Cash, equivalents, short-term investments and restricted cash $11.0B plus $7.0B funds held on behalf of customers (Dec 31, 2025). - About 8,200 employees; about 13,000 third-party workers support most community-support contacts. - Fee structure: split fee (host about 3% plus separate guest fee) historically; single-fee model started Oct 2025; PMS hosts migrated from 3% split to 15.5% single fee beginning Oct 2025; most non-PMS single-fee hosts on 15.5% as of December. Guest travel insurance revenue +~40% in FY25 (12 countries). - Q4 2025: app bookings 64% of nights booked (60% a year earlier); app nights booked +20%; first-time bookers +8%; Reserve Now, Pay Later adoption over 70% of eligible U.S. bookings (share of global GBV); almost half of experiences bookings not attached to a stay. - More than 5.5M hosts, over 2.5B guest arrivals, 220+ countries and regions (10-Q Q2 2026 overview). **H1 / Q2 2026 (10-Q, unaudited)** - Revenue H1 $6,286M (H1 2025 $5,368M, +17%, INFERENCE from figures); Q2 $3,608M vs $3,096M (+17%). - GBV H1 $56,434M (+18%); Q2 $27,247M (+16%). Nights and Seats Booked H1 305M (+10%); Q2 148M (+10%). - Income from operations H1 $844M (vs $650M); Q2 $758M (vs $612M). Net income H1 $976M (vs $796M); Q2 $816M (vs $642M) including a $77M tax benefit. - OCF H1 $2,978M; FCF H1 $2,957M. Share repurchases H1 $2,139M; $3.4B authorization left. Issued $2,478M of long-term debt and repaid $2,000M in H1. Funds held on behalf of customers $12.2B at Jun 30, 2026. - Sales and marketing +27% in Q2, +30% in H1 on paid growth marketing in emerging markets and partnerships. ## Cautions - GBV is an operating metric, not revenue; revenue is recognized at check-in, so growth in revenue lags growth in GBV, and the ratio of H1 revenue to H1 GBV (about 11%) is seasonal and not comparable with the full-year ratio. - Interest income is below operating income and is not revenue. - Nights and Seats Booked mixes stays with seats for experiences and services.