Airbnb Inc. said Tuesday that it had its first profitable second quarter as a public company, and that it is so confident in its business that it is buying back $2 billion of its stock. “Our Q2 results demonstrate that Airbnb has achieved growth and profitability at scale,” Chief Executive Brian Chesky said during prepared remarks on the company’s earnings call.
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shares fell more than 7% after hours, after rising nearly 5% in the regular session to close at $116.34. They are on a positive streak and have risen 14% in the past five trading days. The lodging-booking company reported second-quarter net income of $379 million, or 56 cents a share, compared with a loss of $68 million, or 11 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose to $2.19 billion from $1.34 billion in the year-ago quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 45 cents a share on revenue of $2.1 billion. Airbnb said demand for travel is strong almost everywhere. The company’s gross bookings amounted to $17 billion, up 27% year over year and 73% higher compared with the pre-pandemic 2019 quarter. Customers booked 103.7 million nights and experiences, the highest ever and up 24% compared with the 2019 quarter. Gross nights booked for cross-border travel continued to beat pre-pandemic levels, and doubled compared to the year-ago quarter, the company said. Analysts had expected 106.2 million nights and experiences booked and $17. …