5 Things We’ve Learned About Airbnb From Its UK Accounts
Photo Credit: A living room in an Airbnb property. The company is growing at a considerable rate. Airbnb
Skift Take
Airbnb is clearly growing very fast. But before it goes public, it will have to sort out regulatory issues like the one it faces in the UK.
As a company incorporated in what some would call the onshore tax haven of Delaware in the U.S., privately held Airbnb doesn’t have to say much publicly about the state of its business.
Beyond the usual mix of guesswork and leaks, it’s tough to decipher exactly what is going on behind the scenes, even as speculation increases that Airbnb will soon pursue an initial public offering.
One of the few glimpses we get comes in the form of accounts published in the UK, where companies are required to file with government business registrar Companies House, and where private companies must offer up more information than they do in the U.S.
Airbnb's UK accounts are different than those from many other travel companies with the it using a web of entities that—inadvertent or otherwise—mask the true size of its business.
In the UK, Airbnb has two businesses: Airbnb UK Ltd and Airbnb Payments UK Ltd. Both recently filed accounts for calendar year 2017.
Airbnb UK's main pu
