Airbnb beats earnings expectations for first quarter but offers weaker-than-expected guidance

Published

2 years ago

May 9, 2024

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In this photo illustration, the Airbnb logo is displayed on a computer monitor and cell phone on February 13, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

Mario Tama | Getty Images

Airbnb reported first-quarter results on Wednesday that beat analysts’ estimates but offered weaker-than-expected guidance. Shares fell more than 6% in extended trading.

Here’s how the company did, compared with consensus expectations from LSEG:

Earnings per share: 41 cents vs. 24 cents expected
Revenue: $2.14 billion vs. $2.06 billion expected

Revenue increased 18% from $1.82 billion a year earlier. Airbnb reported a net income of $264 million, or 41 cents per share, compared to $117 million, or 18 cents per share, in the same period last year.

The company said revenue in its second quarter will come in between $2.68 billion and $2.74 billion. Analysts were expecting $2.74 billion for the period, according to LSEG.

In its letter to shareholders, Airbnb said it is already experiencing “robust demand for travel” ahead of the peak summer season, particularly around upcoming events like the Olympics in Paris. The company also said it expects that year-over-year revenue growth for its third quarter will accelerate compared to the second quarter, in part because of its summer travel backlog.

Other special events like the solar eclipse in North America helped drive engagement with Airbnb’s platform during the first quarter. The company said it had 500,000 guests stay on Airbnb during the eclipse, according to its investor letter.

Airbnb said adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was $424 million, up 62% year over year. Analysts polled by StreetAccount were expecting $326 million.

Gross booking value, which Airbnb uses to track host earnings, service fees, cleaning fees and taxes, was $22.9 billion in the first quarter. The company reported 132.6 million nights and experiences booked, up 9.5% from a year ago, and higher than the 132.1 million expected by analysts, according to StreetAccount.

Growth in Airbnb’s nights and experiences booked was led by the Asia Pacific and Latin America regions, Airbnb said. The company is “particularly encouraged” by growth of its app downloads and usage, according to its shareholder letter. Airbnb app downloads in the U.S. increased 60% year over year.

Average daily rates increased 3% from a year ago to $173 in the first quarter, the company said. It ended the quarter with its “highest number of active listings yet,” according to the letter, which jumped 15% from a year earlier.

Correction: Airbnb’s quarterly net income was $264 million. An earlier version misstated the figure.

Technology

Figure AI sued by whistleblower who warned that startup’s robots could ‘fracture a human skull’

Published

15 hours ago

November 21, 2025

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$Figure AI sued by whistleblower who warned that startup's robots could 'fracture a human skull'$

Startup Figure AI is developing general-purpose humanoid robots.

Figure AI

Figure AI, an Nvidia-backed developer of humanoid robots, was sued by the startup’s former head of product safety who alleged that he was wrongfully terminated after warning top executives that the company’s robots “were powerful enough to fracture a human skull.”

Robert Gruendel, a principal robotic safety engineer, is the plaintiff in the suit filed Friday in a federal court in the Northern District of California. Gruendel’s attorneys describe their client as a whistleblower who was fired in September, days after lodging his “most direct and documented safety complaints.”

The suit lands two months after Figure was valued at $39 billion in a funding round led by Parkway Venture Capital. That’s a 15-fold increase in valuation from early 2024, when the company raised a round from investors including Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and Microsoft.

In the complaint, Gruendel’s lawyers say the plaintiff warned Figure CEO Brett Adcock and Kyle Edelberg, chief engineer, about the robot’s lethal capabilities, and said one “had already carved a ¼-inch gash into a steel refrigerator door during a malfunction.”

The complaint also says Gruendel warned company leaders not to “downgrade” a “safety road map” that he had been asked to present to two prospective investors who ended up funding the company.

Gruendel worried that a “product safety plan which contributed to their decision to invest” had been “gutted” the same month Figure closed the investment round, a move that “could be interpreted as fraudulent,” the suit says.

The plaintiff’s concerns were “treated as obstacles, not obligations,” and the company cited a “vague ‘change in business direction’ as the pretext” for his termination, according to the suit.

Gruendel is seeking economic, compensatory and punitive damages and demanding a jury trial.

Figure didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did attorneys for Gruendel.

The humanoid robot market remains nascent today, with companies like Tesla and Boston Dynamics pursuing futuristic offerings, alongside Figure, while China’s Unitree Robotics is preparing for an IPO. Morgan Stanley said in a report in May that adoption is “likely to accelerate in the 2030s” and could top $5 trillion by 2050.

Read the filing here: