Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky has released the following (edited) Q4 2022 Shareholder Letter

2022 was another record year for Airbnb. Revenue of $8.4 billion grew 40% year over year (46% ex-FX). Net income was $1.9 billion—making 2022 our first profitable full year on a GAAP basis. Adjusted EBITDA was $2.9 billion while Free Cash Flow was $3.4 billion, growing 49% year over year.

Guest demand remained strong throughout 2022. All regions saw significant growth in 2022 as guests increasingly crossed borders and returned to cities on Airbnb.

Supply growth was also strong in 2022. We ended the year with 6.6 million global active listings, which is over 900,000 more listings than we had in the beginning of the year, excluding China. This growth was driven by our global network, where demand drives supply, as well as product innovations that continue to attract new Hosts.

Looking forward to 2023, we’re seeing strong demand in Q1, indicating that consumer confidence to travel remains high. This year, we’re focusing on three strategic priorities:
• Make hosting mainstream. If you’re reading this letter, you have likely traveled on Airbnb or know someone who has. We want hosting on Airbnb to be just as popular. To achieve this, we will continue to raise awareness around hosting, make it easier to get started, and provide even better tools for Hosts.

• Perfect the core service. We want people to love our service, and that means obsessing over every detail. Based on feedback from our guests and Hosts, we’re making a large number of upgrades to our service this year—improving community support, making it easier to find the right home for you, delivering greater value, and much more.

• Expand beyond the core. We have some big ideas for where to take Airbnb next, and this year we will build the foundation for future products and services that will provide incremental growth for years to come.

As we continue to innovate and grow, we’re excited to share this journey with you.

Q4 and Full-Year 2022 Financial Results
Here is a snapshot of our Q4 and full-year 2022 results:
• Q4 revenue of $1.9 billion was our highest fourth quarter ever. Revenue grew 24% year-over-year (31% ex-FX) driven by solid growth in Nights and Experiences Booked. For the full year 2022, revenue increased 40% year-over-year (46% ex-FX) to $8.4 billion driven by the increase in demand and Average Daily Rates (“ADR”).
• Q4 net income of $319 million was our most profitable fourth quarter ever. Net income improved by $264 million compared to Q4 2021 primarily due to our revenue growth and expense discipline.

In Q4 2022, we delivered a net income margin of 17%, up from 4% in Q4 2021. For the full year 2022, we generated $1.9 billion of net income—our first profitable full year. This compared to a net loss of $352 million for the full year 2021.

• Q4 Adjusted EBITDA of $506 million was a record fourth quarter. Adjusted EBITDA in Q4 2022 increased 52% compared to $333 million in Q4 2021. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 27% for Q4 2022, up from 22% in Q4 2021. For the full year 2022, Adjusted EBITDA margin was 35%, compared with 27% for full year 2021. This improvement in Adjusted EBITDA demonstrates the continued strength of our business and discipline in managing our cost structure.

• Q4 Free Cash Flow of $455 million was our highest Q4 ever. Q4 2022 net cash provided by operating activities was $463 million, up from $382 million in Q4 2021. The increase in cash flow was driven by revenue growth and net margin expansion. Our FCF for full year 2022 was $3.4 billion, representing a FCF margin of 41%, and year-over-year growth of 49%.2 With our Free Cash Flow, we repurchased $1.5 billion of our stock and reduced our fully diluted share count from 703 million at the end of 2021 to 694 million at the end of 2022.

Business Highlights
Our strong quarter was driven by the continuation of a number of positive business trends:

• Guest demand on Airbnb remained strong. Nights and Experiences Booked increased 20% in Q4 2022 compared to a year ago. In Q4 2022, we had our highest number of active bookers yet, demonstrating guests’ excitement to travel on Airbnb despite evolving macroeconomic uncertainties. Globally, we’ve now had 1.4 billion cumulative guest arrivals. And heading into 2023, we see a strong backlog for Q1 with longer lead times for bookings in Q4 2022 compared to a year ago.

• Guests increasingly returned to cities and crossed borders. Cross-border gross nights booked increased 49%, while high-density urban nights booked grew 22% compared to Q4 2021. While the business mix remains different from pre-pandemic levels, we’ve seen consistent growth in both areas. In Q4 2022, high-density urban nights booked was 51% of total gross nights booked (versus 59% in Q4 2019) and cross-border was 44% (versus 47% in Q4 2019). Globally, we saw cross-border travel to all regions increase in Q4 2022 from last year despite continued foreign currency volatility.

While Asia Pacific, which has historically been reliant on cross-border travel, has yet to return to 2019 levels, we see China’s recent removal of travel restrictions as an encouraging sign of continued recovery for the region.

• Guests continued to stay longer on Airbnb. Gross nights booked in Q4 2022 for more than a week are 40% higher than Q4 2019. Nights from long-term stays (28 nights or longer) remained stable from a year ago at 21% of total gross nights booked. We’ve seen guests across all regions and age groups use Airbnb for long-term stays.

• Supply on Airbnb grew by over 900,000 active listings. We ended 2022 with 6.6 million active listings—our highest yet. This was an increase of over 900,000 active listings, or 16% compared to 2021, excluding the removal of all mainland China listings in July 2022 based on our decision to close the domestic business in China.

Two factors drove this increase in supply. First, demand drives supply. Hosts are attracted to the supplemental income they can earn on Airbnb, which is often critical during times of inflation and recessionary concerns. Second, our product innovation is having an impact. Over the past two years, we’ve made it more attractive and easier to Host—including our most recent introduction of Airbnb Setup. And we’re not stopping there. We will continuously invest in growing our Host community and helping them succeed.

Balance Sheet and Cash Flows
For the three months ended December 31, 2022, we reported $463 million of net cash provided by operating activities and $455 million of FCF, compared to $382 million and $378 million, respectively, for the three months ended December 31, 2021.

The year-over-year increase in FCF was driven by revenue growth and margin expansion. For the full year ended December 31, 2022, we generated $3.4
billion of net cash provided by operating activities and $3.4 billion of FCF.

Unearned fees totaled $1.2 billion at the end of Q4 2022, compared to $1.2 billion at the end of Q3 2022 and $904 million at the end of Q4 2021.

As of December 31, 2022, we had $9.6 billion of cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities, and restricted cash. We also had $4.8 billion of funds held on behalf of guests as of December 31, 2022.

In August 2022, we announced that our Board of Directors approved a share repurchase program with authorization to purchase up to $2 billion of our Class A common stock at management’s discretion.

In 2022, we repurchased $1.5 billion of our Class A common stock. The share repurchase program will enable us to offset dilution from our employee stock programs.

Outlook
We are excited to see the continued strong demand in Q1 2023. We’re particularly encouraged by European guests booking their summer travel earlier this year, the market share gains we are seeing in Latin America, as well as the continued recovery within Asia Pacific.

We expect revenue of $1.75 billion to $1.82 billion in Q1 2023. This represents year-over-year growth of between 16% and 21% and on an ex-FX basis between 18% and 23%. We expect our implied take rate (defined as revenue divided by GBV) in Q1 2023 to be similar to Q1 2022. We anticipate that the implied take rate seasonality in 2023 will be similar to 2022.

In Q1 2022, travel was significantly impacted by the Omicron strain of COVID-19 in January and to a lesser extent the war in Ukraine during February, making the earlier part of the quarter an easier year-over-year comparison than the end. In Q1 2023, we expect Nights and Experiences Booked year-over-year growth to be nearly as strong as Q4 2022.

In Q1 2023, we anticipate slightly lower ADR than we had in Q1 2022. For the remainder of the year, we expect ADR will face increasing downward pressure from mix shift, as well as new and improved pricing and discounting tools. We will be introducing these tools this year and expect these changes to drive greater affordability and value for guests, support bookings growth, and therefore also help Hosts be more successful.

For the full year 2023, we expect to maintain the strong Adjusted EBITDA margin we delivered in 2022, as we offset the headwinds from lower ADR with incremental variable cost efficiencies and fixed cost discipline. In Q1 2023, we expect Adjusted EBITDA margin to be slightly down on a year-over-year basis due to changes in the timing of our brand marketing spend. Compared to Q1 2022, we expect sales and marketing in Q1 2023 will be approximately 150 basis points higher as a percent of revenue, but flat as a percent of revenue for the full year.

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• Gross Bookings grew 19% year-over-year and 22% year-over-year on a constant currency basis
• Mobility and Delivery Adjusted EBITDA margins at all-time quarterly highs
• Operating cash flow of $606 million; Record free cash flow of $549 million

Dara Khosrowshahi CEO Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.

Financial Highlights for First Quarter 2023

Gross Bookings grew 19% year-over-year (“YoY”) to $31.4 billion, or 22% on a constant currency basis, with Mobility Gross Bookings of $15.0 billion (+40% YoY or +43% YoY constant currency) and Delivery Gross Bookings of $15.0 billion (+8% YoY or +12% YoY constant currency). Trips during the quarter grew 24% YoY to 2.1 billion, or approximately 24 million trips per day on average.

Revenue grew 29% YoY to $8.8 billion, or 33% on a constant currency basis, with Revenue growth significantly outpacing Gross Bookings growth due to a change in the business model for our UK Mobility business.

Net loss attributable to Uber Technologies, Inc. was $157 million, which includes a $320 million net benefit (pre-tax) primarily due to net unrealized gains related to the revaluation of Uber’s equity investments.

Adjusted EBITDA of $761 million, up $593 million YoY. Adjusted EBITDA margin as a percentage of Gross Bookings was 2.4%, up from 0.6% in Q1 2022. Incremental margin as a percentage of Gross Bookings was 12.0% YoY.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $606 million and free cash flow, defined as net cash flows from operating activities less capital expenditures, was $549 million. Unrestricted cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments were $4.2 billion at the end of the first quarter.

“We delivered record profitability and free cash flow in Q1, and we are poised to expand profitability again in Q2. We continued to actively manage our balance sheet, exiting our equity position in Yandex Taxi and refinancing our term loans, and remain focused on disciplined capital allocation over the coming years.” Nelson Chai, CFO.

Mobility

Gross Bookings of $15.0 billion: Mobility Gross Bookings grew 43% YoY on a constant currency basis. On a sequential basis, Mobility Gross Bookings grew 1% quarter-over-quarter (“QoQ”).

Revenue of $4.3 billion: Mobility Revenue grew 72% YoY and 5% QoQ. The YoY increase was primarily driven by a $1.1 billion benefit related to a UK business model change that classifies most driver payments and incentives as cost of revenue. Mobility Take Rate of 28.9% increased 540 bps YoY and increased 110 bps QoQ.

The UK business model change impacting revenue represented a 750 bps net benefit to Take Rate in the quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA of $1.1 billion: Mobility Adjusted EBITDA increased $442 million YoY and $48 million QoQ. Mobility Adjusted EBITDA margin was 7.1% of Gross Bookings compared to 5.8% in Q1 2022 and 6.8% in Q4 2022. Mobility Adjusted EBITDA margin improvement YoY was primarily driven by better cost leverage from higher volume.

“We significantly accelerated Q1 trip growth to 24% from 19% last quarter, with Mobility trip growth of 32%, as a result of improved earner and consumer engagement. Looking ahead, we are focused on extending our product, scale and platform advantages to sustain market-leading top and bottom-line growth beyond 2023.”Dara Khosrowshahi CEO

Delivery

Gross Bookings of $15.0 billion: Delivery Gross Bookings grew 12% YoY on a constant currency basis. Delivery Gross Bookings in US&CAN were up 11% YoY and in all other markets were up 12% YoY on a constant currency basis.

Revenue of $3.1 billion: Delivery Revenue grew 23% YoY and 6% QoQ. Take Rate of 20.6% grew 250 bps YoY and grew 10 bps QoQ. Business model changes in some countries that classify certain payments and incentives as cost of revenue benefited Delivery Take Rate by 430 bps in the quarter (compared to 400 bps benefit in Q1 2022 and 480 bps benefit in Q4 2022).

Adjusted EBITDA of $288 million: Delivery Adjusted EBITDA grew $258 million YoY and $47 million QoQ, driven by higher volumes and increased Advertising revenue, as well as decreased marketing costs. Delivery Adjusted EBITDA margin as a percentage of Gross Bookings reached 1.9%, compared to 0.2% in Q1 2022 and 1.7% in Q4 2022.

Freight

Revenue of $1.4 billion: Freight Revenue declined 23% YoY and 9% QoQ driven by lower revenue per load and volume, both a consequence of the challenging freight market cycle.

Adjusted EBITDA loss of $23 million: Freight Adjusted EBITDA declined $25 million YoY and $15 million QoQ. Freight Adjusted EBITDA margin as a percentage of Gross Bookings declined 1.7 percentage points YoY to (1.6)%.

Corporate

Corporate G&A and Platform R&D: Corporate G&A and Platform R&D expenses of $564 million, compared to $482 million in Q1 2022, and $580 million in Q4 2022. On a YoY basis, Corporate G&A and Platform R&D remained flat as a percentage of Gross Bookings.

Operating Highlights for the First Quarter 2023

Platform

Monthly Active Platform Consumers (“MAPCs”) reached 130 million: MAPCs grew 13% YoY to 130 million, driven by continued improvement in consumer activity for our Mobility offerings.

Trips of 2.1 billion: Trips on our platform grew 24% YoY, driven by both Mobility and Delivery growth. Both Mobility and Delivery trips were up QoQ.
Supporting earners: Drivers and couriers earned an aggregate $13.7 billion (including tips) during the quarter, with earnings up 26% YoY, or 30% on a constant currency basis.

Membership: Returned to the Super Bowl stage for the third year to launch our latest campaign “One Hit for Uber One.” Uber One continued to experience ongoing adoption and our member base in US & Canada reached an all-time high.

Uber app redesign: Launched the redesigned Uber app, focused on driving cross-platform usage across Mobility and Delivery, and making our “Go Anywhere, Get Anything” differentiator even easier. Updates include a new home screen, more personalization, and a new way to track the live progress of a ride without opening the app.

Advertising: Expanded our advertising formats with the addition of Post Checkout ads on Uber Eats, enabling non-Eats merchants to advertise in the app. In addition, launched a self-service platform for cartop ads, giving drivers a way to earn more revenue and spotlight local businesses. Active advertising merchants during the quarter exceeded 345K.

Cloud migration: Announced long-term partnerships with Google Cloud and Oracle to migrate our infrastructure to the cloud. These strategic partnerships include other areas of collaboration with Google and Oracle.

Annual Environmental, Social, and Governance Report: Published our annual Environmental, Social, and Governance Report in April, which highlights our perspectives on the ESG issues that matter most to the people who earn on, move on, or invest in our platform, as well as our approach to People and Culture and our broader diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Mobility

Uber Reserve expansion: Building on strong traction in other regions for Uber Reserve, expanded product availability to new markets in EMEA. In addition, expanded Reserve feature availability across many cities, including launching Economy products in New York City.

Taxis: Launched Uber Taxi in new markets including Munich, Germany; Tromsö, Norway; Palermo, Italy; the metropolitan area of São Paulo, Brazil; and more. Uber Taxi is now available in Argentina in all cities where Uber is available, and 100% of New York City taxi supply is now connected to Uber.

Airport product bundle: Announced a series of new products and features aimed at making airport travel experiences smoother than ever, including new Uber Reserve features, Business Comfort expansion, in-app directions to pickup, and walking ETAs.

Earner and rider safety: Expanded the opt-in audio recording feature to more than half of the US and all of Canada, giving riders and drivers the option to initiate an audio recording during a trip through the Safety Toolkit in their Uber app.

Electric Vehicle (“EV”) updates: Expanded Comfort Electric to 14 new markets across the US and Canada, bringing us to 40 North American markets where riders can use Uber to go electric. In addition, signed agreements with bp to provide access to reliable and convenient charging and Tata Motors to bring 25,000 EVs onto Uber’s platform.

Micromobility partnership: Announced a multi-market commercial partnership with Tembici, a leader in micromobility across Latin America, to make bikes and electric bikes available directly in the Uber app.

Delivery

Grocery courier experience: Rolled out new features to improve the Shop and Pay experience for grocery couriers across the US, including suggested substitutions for out of stock items, digital payments, and enhanced upfront order clarity.

New Verticals merchant selection: Expanded our New Verticals selection around the world, as we launched PetSmart as a retail partner in the US; grocery delivery with Coles, Australia’s second-largest grocer; a convenience partnership with Mexican pharmacy Benavides; and alcohol delivery from all serviceable locations of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (“LCBO”) in Canada.

Uber Eats at Venues: Announced new functionality that allows sports fans to order concessions directly to their seats at Yankee Stadium, building upon mobile ordering for pickup at venues including Minute Maid Park, Capital One Arena, Angel Stadium and PayPal Park. In addition, signed a new partnership with Tampa International Airport to facilitate mobile ordering before boarding a flight.

Certified Virtual Restaurant Program: Announced new quality standards and a new Certified Virtual Restaurant Program in the US to make virtual restaurant operations more streamlined and effective for merchants, and to create a more consistent, reliable virtual restaurants experience for consumers who use Uber Eats.

Courier electrification: Introduced new partnerships to support zero-emission modes of transportation for delivery couriers, including working with Gachaco to provide rapid battery replacement for three-wheelers in Japan; Lumala to improve e-cycle availability for Uber Eats couriers in Sri Lanka; and HumanForest to give Uber Eats couriers full access to its e-bike and e-moped fleet in London.

Freight

Electric truck pilot partnership with WattEV and CHEP: Announced a strategic partnership with WattEV to deploy electric trucks on select routes in Southern California. CHEP was the first shipper to participate in the pilot, which serves as an important milestone in electric freight transportation and established Uber Freight’s first EV deployment.

Corporate

Refinanced Term Loans: Refinanced Uber’s 2025 and 2027 term loans, extending the full $2.5 billion to a 2030 maturity.

Recent Developments

Yandex stake sale: In April 2023, we entered into and closed on a definitive agreement to sell our remaining equity interest in MLU B.V., our joint venture with Yandex, to Yandex for $702.5 million in cash.

Careem Super App investment: In April 2023, we entered into a series of agreements with Emirates Telecommunication Group Company whereby we will contribute $400 million into the Careem non-ridesharing businesses (“Careem Super App”) in exchange for a majority equity interest.

Outlook for Q2 2023

For Q2 2023, we anticipate:

Gross Bookings of $33.0 billion to $34.0 billion
Adjusted EBITDA of $800 million to $850 million

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Forecasts from Apple’s most important chipmaker — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing — is likely to spark concerns over a persistent tech slump. The semi-conductor producer warned demand from mobile and PC industries would remain soft for now, but added it’s sticking to previously stated plans to spend $36 billion on improving its capacity this year. The big question the company faces is whether China’s reopening will provide the bounce it’s hoping for. Yet a mixed bag of forecasts from peers underscores the uncertainty that the industry faces, from geopolitical pressures to consumers and businesses tighten their belts.

Elon Musk indicated Tesla will continue to cut prices on its electric vehicles to push for higher volumes, even after the company took significant hit to profit due to markdowns. The news comes after several rounds of price cuts already this year, prompting speculation over whether the strategy comes from a position of weakness or strength. While Tesla is still the top seller of EVs, high borrowing costs and competition have meant its growth has slowed dramatically. “They’re going to use the room in their margin to create more demand,” Ben Kallo, an analyst at Robert W. Baird, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

Tesla reported first-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates after a series of aggressive price cuts squeezed profit margins. Profit excluding some items fell to 85 cents a share, slightly below the 86-cent average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The Austin, Texas-based electric-vehicle maker has been slashing prices in an effort to stay ahead of rivals. The company’s stock slid more than 4.5% on the news.

Brookfield funds have defaulted on a $161.4 million mortgage for a dozen office buildings, mostly around Washington, DC, as rising vacancies hit property values. The loan transferred to a special servicer who is working with “the borrower to execute a pre-negotiation agreement and to determine the path forward,” according to a filing on the commercial mortgage-backed security. Some landlords are defaulting on debt as borrowing costs surge and the prospects of filling up office towers wanes given the rise in remote and hybrid work. Those trends have weighed on values, with prices on office properties falling about 25% in the past year, according to Green Street.

Bloomberg