Airbnb began with three air mattresses on a San Francisco apartment floor, rented to guests during a design conference. Twelve years later it went public in the middle of a pandemic that had stopped travel cold. In the spring of 2020 bookings collapsed and the company cut about a quarter of its staff. By the time it filed in November, people were renting cabins and beach houses close to home, and Airbnb had bounced back.

Cereal Boxes and Spare Rooms

Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia were roommates who could not cover their rent. They rented out air mattresses in 2007, then founded the company with Nathan Blecharczyk in 2008. Early on, they kept it alive by selling election-themed cereal boxes. The bet was that strangers would trust each other enough to share a home, if reviews, photos, and payments made it feel safe. Investors doubted it for years.

Doubled by Lunch

Airbnb priced at $68 a share on December 9, 2020, and began trading on the Nasdaq as ABNB the next day. It opened at $146, more than double the offer price, and closed at $144.71, up 112 percent. The debut valued it at about $86.5 billion. Airbnb joined the S&P 500 in 2023, and it still trades on the Nasdaq as ABNB.

Cover: A Cottage with White Paling, Rembrandt van Rijn. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a cottage (a home to stay in).