The Zhitong Finance App learned that Airbnb (ABNB.US) announced the results for the third quarter of 2026 after the US stock market on Thursday. This shareholder letter, which began with “Airbnb's return to the growth model,” fulfilled its promise: revenue growth hit the fastest record in more than three years, and bookings were significantly accelerated compared to the previous quarter. The company also announced a new $12 billion repurchase authorization and raised its full-year guidelines. Boosted by this, the stock price once surged by nearly 12% after the market, far exceeding the 7.5% fluctuation in options market pricing.
Core performance: both revenue and profit exceeded expectations
According to financial reports, Airbnb achieved revenue of 4.87 billion US dollars in the third quarter, up 19% year on year (up 16% in fixed exchange rate), exceeding market expectations of 4.75 billion US dollars, the fastest revenue growth rate in more than three years; total bookings (GBV) of 27.7 billion US dollars, up 21% year over year, up 5 percentage points from month to month; overnight and seat reservations reached 155 million, up 16% year on year — a significant increase from 10% in the second quarter and 9% in the same period last year.
The profit side was also strong: net profit of US$1.89 billion, up 38% year over year, and net interest rate of 39%; diluted earnings per share of $3.16, better than market expectations of $2.85 ($2.21 in the same period last year). What needs to be clarified is that the results for the same period last year included a deferred income tax valuation allowance of US$213 million, which slightly distorted the EPS comparison base, but the acceleration in revenue and reservation volume is a cleaner sign of this season. Adjusted EBITDA was US$2.51 billion, up 22% year on year, with a profit margin of 52%; free cash flow of US$1.43 billion (profit margin 29%), with a cumulative free cash flow of US$4.9 billion over the past 12 months.
Global demand resonates: all five core markets are accelerating
The biggest highlight of this season is the breadth of growth: the five core markets of the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia all accelerated year-on-year growth. Looking at the subregions, North America achieved low double-digit growth in night and seat reservations — the fastest increase in four years; Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) grew in double digits (mid-teens), while the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy increased overall month-on-month; Latin America's growth rate exceeded 20%, with the Brazilian clean night growth rate continuing to exceed 30%.
At the product and operational level, the number of overnight mobile apps increased 29% year over year, accounting for 66% of the total; the growth rate of first-time bookers accelerated to 13%, the highest since the beginning of 2022; the “book now, pay later” (RNPL) function drove longer reservation lead times. In terms of efficiency, about 40% of customer support issues were resolved without human intervention (about one-third in the second quarter), and customer service costs for a single reservation fell by more than 17% year over year.
$12 billion repurchase+annual upward guidance
The return on capital increased significantly: the company bought back 700 million US dollars of Class A shares this quarter and announced an additional repurchase authorization of up to 12 billion US dollars — adding the remaining 2.7 billion US dollars of previous authorization, with a total “ammunition” of nearly 15 billion US dollars; by the end of the quarter, the company held 12.65 billion US dollars in cash and short-term investments, and signed a new 1 billion US dollar five-year unsecured revolving credit line on October 30.
In terms of guidance, the company expects revenue of 3.22 billion to 3.28 billion US dollars for the fourth quarter, up 16% to 18% year on year (including a smooth exchange rate of about 2 percentage points), with total bookings increasing in double places; the annual revenue growth guide was raised from “at least a few dozen digits in the middle” to “high teens” (high teens), and the adjusted EBITDA profit margin for the whole year is expected to be about 36%.
It is worth mentioning that in the context of Booking Holdings and its peers giving careful guidance for the fourth quarter due to disturbances in the Middle East conflict, Airbnb clearly stated that global travel demand “is still healthy”, and only suggests that it is closely monitoring developments in Europe, the Middle East and Africa — this relatively optimistic statement combined with performance that exceeded expectations and the largest repurchase authorization in history to jointly drive the stock price jump from the closing price of $170.13 to around $190 in after-hours trading.