[nickelcitymario]

For me, I need to see a path to profitability.

When Amazon spent years and years not making a profit, I understood: They were investing in infrastructure and taking on new industries. They could make a profit any time they wanted by simply not re-investing any further.

Tesla, SpaceX, and many other companies necessarily have to invest heavily in the early days to build out their infrastructure and capabilities. I understand completely why they might not be profitable for years and yet still be good long-term investments.

With Airbnb, I struggle to understand what they're investing in. There's no inventory. They own no real estate. That's supposed to be the genius of the business model. And yet they keep losing hundreds of millions each year.

When you say they're investing in growth, what exactly are they investing in? What am I missing? What are they doing that costs $3B a year, and how does their cost-to-revenue ratio improve as the business scales?

From where I'm sitting, it looks like the more business they do, the more money they lose.

[cody3222]

Good points. The most direct answer is that in the last 2 years they invested heavily in Airbnb Experiences. If they skipped this, they would probably be profitable.