Airbnb, Inc. Class A (ABNB.US) Q3 accelerates across the board: revenue up 19%, the fastest in over three years; adds US$12 billion buyback and raises full-year guidance

Airbnb, Inc. Class A (ABNB.US) released its Q3 2026 results after the U.S. market close on Thursday. The shareholder letter, which opened with "Airbnb is back in growth mode," delivered on its promise: revenue growth hit the fastest pace in over three years, bookings accelerated significantly from the prior quarter, and the company simultaneously announced a new US$12 billion buyback authorization and raised its full-year guidance. Buoyed by this, the stock surged nearly 12% after hours at one point, far exceeding the roughly 7.5% swing priced in by the options market. Core results: Revenue and profit both beat expectations The report showed Airbnb's Q3 revenue came in at US$4.87 billion, up 19% year over year (up 16% on a constant-currency basis), beating market expectations of US$4.75 billion and marking the company's fastest revenue growth in over three years; gross booking value (GBV) was US$27.7 billion, up 21% year over year and accelerating 5 percentage points sequentially; nights and seats booked reached 155 million, up 16% year over yeara significant acceleration from 10% in Q2 and 9% in the year-ago period. Profitability was equally strong: net income of US$1.89 billion, up 38% year over year, with a net margin of 39%; diluted earnings per share of US$3.16, better than market expectations of US$2.85 (versus US$2.21 in the year-ago period). It should be noted that the year-ago results included a US$213 million deferred tax valuation allowance, which slightly distorts the EPS comparison base, but the acceleration in revenue and bookings is the cleaner signal this quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was US$2.51 billion, up 22% year over year, with a margin of 52%; free cash flow was US$1.43 billion (a 29% margin), with trailing-twelve-month free cash flow totaling US$4.9 billion. Global demand in sync: All five core markets accelerate The biggest highlight this quarter was the breadth of growth: year-over-year growth accelerated in all five core marketsthe U.S., France, the U.K., Canada and Australia. By region, North America nights and seats booked grew at a low-teens ratethe fastest in four yearswith inbound travel to the U.S. improving; EMEA grew at a mid-teens rate, with the U.K., France, Germany, Spain and Italy all accelerating sequentially; Latin America grew over 20%, with Brazil-origin net nights continuing to grow over 30%. On the product and operations side, mobile app nights grew 29% year over year and rose to 66% of total; first-time bookers accelerated to 13%, the highest since early 2022; the "Reserve Now, Pay Later" (RNPL) feature helped lengthen booking lead times. On efficiency, about 40% of customer support issues were resolved without human intervention (versus about one-third in Q2), and customer service cost per booking fell over 17% year over year. US$12 billion buyback + raised full-year guidance Capital returns were significantly stepped up: the company repurchased US$700 million of Class A shares this quarter and announced a new buyback authorization of up to US$12 billioncombined with the US$2.7 billion remaining under the prior authorization, total "firepower" is nearly US$15 billion; as of quarter-end the company held US$12.65 billion in cash and short-term investments, and on October 30 signed a new US$1 billion five-year unsecured revolving credit facility. On guidance, the company expects Q4 revenue of US$3.22 billion to US$3.28 billion, up 16% to 18% year over year (including about 2 percentage points of FX tailwind), with gross booking value growth in the mid-teens; the full-year revenue growth guidance was raised from "at least mid-teens" to "high teens," with a full-year adjusted EBITDA margin of about 36%. It is worth noting that against the backdrop of peers such as Booking Holdings giving cautious Q4 guidance due to Middle East conflict disruptions, Airbnb explicitly stated that global travel demand "remains healthy," only noting that it is closely monitoring developments in the EMEA regionthis relatively optimistic tone, combined with the better-than-expected results and the largest buyback authorization in its history, helped drive the stock from its closing price of US$170.13 to around US$190 in after-hours trading, a gain of about 11.8%.