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HotelTonight CEO Sam Shank. Photo: Bloomberg

Three Reasons Behind Airbnb’s Deal for HotelTonight

Photo: HotelTonight CEO Sam Shank. Photo: Bloomberg

Airbnb for the past year has talked about its intentions to expand its presence in hotel bookings. On Thursday, the company made it official, acquiring HotelTonight for what two people familiar with the matter said was $440 million. The deal takes Airbnb’s rivalry with Booking.com to a new level, and offers Airbnb a new outlet for growth ahead of an expected IPO in 2020.

But there are also risks for Airbnb as it seeks to sustain its unique brand and integrate HotelTonight, which had more than $100 million in revenue last year compared with Airbnb’s more than $3.5 billion. Why did Airbnb pull the trigger now?

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Meet The Information’s New Financial Power Brokers
Photos via Goldman Sachs, Elliott Management, Bloomberg, the Berkeley Forum, JPMorgan Chase, Sequoia, UC Berkeley and YouTube.
Jamie Dimon won’t run JPMorgan Chase forever, and Marc Andreessen will one day give way to the next generation of investors. The Information has identified the bankers, executives and investors who could replace them by stepping into the upper echelons of the finance industry in the years to come. They are The Information’s New Financial Power Brokers: the people who will run...
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