Airbnb soars 115% in trading debut as valuation pushes past $100 billion

• Airbnb soared 115% at the open of its trading debut on Thursday, giving the peer-to-peer lodging service a market valuation of more than $100 billion.
• The company raised $3.5 billion in funds when it priced its IPO at $68 per share, giving it an initial market valuation of $47 billion.
• An IPO frenzy has quickly materialized in the fourth quarter of 2020, given the eye-popping surge in recent trading debuts for DoorDash and C3.ai. 
• Watch Airbnb trade live here.

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Airbnb soared 115% at the open of its trading debut on Thursday, giving the home-sharing service a market valuation of more than $100 billion.

The stock opened at $146 and hit an intraday high of $165, representing a gain of 143% from its initial public offering price of $68.

That makes Airbnb more valuable than the seven largest US hotel chains combined, including Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt. Marriott International is worth $41 billion, Hilton Worldwide is worth $29 billion, and Hyatt is worth $7 billion.

The smaller hotel names Choice Hotels, Wyndham Hotels, and Wyndham Destinations are each worth $5 billion. Extended Stay is worth just under $3 billion.

Airbnb priced its IPO at $68 per share, raising $3.5 billion in proceeds at a valuation of $47 billion. That's in stark contrast to the company's last fundraising round as a private company in April, when the firm raised $1 billion at a valuation of $18 billion.

Read more: We spoke with Wall Street's 9 best-performing fund managers of 2020 to learn how they crushed the chaotic market — and compile the biggest bets they're making for 2021

The company was valued as high as $31 billion in a 2017 private funding round. The steep cut to Airbnb's valuation in April came amid a pandemic that temporarily sidelined much of its business as stay-at-home orders swept across the country.

But the company bounced back quickly, as travelers wanted little interaction with people during their travels and flocked to private residences on Airbnb over hotel stays that required interactions with workers and other tourists. 

The IPO frenzy of 2020 hasn't been limited to just Airbnb. On Wednesday, DoorDash and C3.ai posted substantial gains of 86% and 174%, respectively. And in September, Snowflake completed the largest software-technology IPO in history and has been on a tear since its debut.

Read more: Cathie Wood is beating 99% of fund managers this year. The ARK CEO and her team share their outlooks for 2021 — including thoughts on Tesla's $5 billion stock sale, the Salesforce-Slack tie-up, and bitcoin's meteoric rise.