An Australian share trading platform is offering free shares in Airbnb Inc (NASDAQ: ABNB), which is listing Thursday night AEDT.
Online broker Stake has given out a referral code — 'Airbnb' — that allows new users of the platform to receive a free Airbnb stock to the value of US$75.
The company's initial public offering (IPO) price is in the range of US$56 to US$60.
This is in addition to Stake's usual sign-up offer of a free share of Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE), GoPro Inc (NASDAQ: GPRO) or Dropbox Inc (NASDAQ: DBX).
The Motley Fool has contacted Stake for comment.
The catch is that users will have to submit proof they have used Airbnb as a host or a guest in order to receive the free stock.
Airbnb's public listing has been highly anticipated for years. It reportedly tried to list earlier this year but the COVID-19 pandemic killed off that attempt.
Now, after sacking a quarter of its employees during the height of the virus downturn, it's back with a vengeance.
So much so that it hiked up its IPO price from a range of US$44 to US$50 due to investor demand.
"Even at a higher price, Airbnb will see a lot of demand from IPO investors, and shareholders are hopeful that the stock will jump out of the gate as well," wrote The Motley Fool US's Dan Caplinger.
"That's not surprising for a company as well known as Airbnb, and it'll be interesting to see whether $56 to $60 per share turns out to be a huge bargain for IPO stock buyers."
Image source: Getty Images
Why is Airbnb called Airbnb?
Airbnb started as an online listing in 2007 to rent out the co-founders' air mattress in their San Francisco flat.
"I learn there's a design conference coming to town, and all the hotels are sold out. And I've always believed that turning fear into fun is the gift of creativity," Airbnb co-founder and chief product officer Joe Gebbia recalled in a 2016 TED talk.
Three guests booked to stay on their timber floor.
"They loved it, and so did we. I swear, the ham and Swiss cheese omelets we made tasted totally different because we made them for our guests," Gebbia said.
"We took them on adventures around the city, and when we said goodbye to the last guest, the door latch clicked, Brian and I just stared at each other. Did we just discover it was possible to make friends while also making rent?"
The answer was an overwhelming yes, and now their company is about to list with a market capitalisation of more than US$42 billion.
