Reports Q4 net income ($3.9B), which was impacted by charges related to the IPO, including $2.8B of stock-based compensation expense. Reports Gross Booking Value $5.9B and Nights and Experiences Booked 46.3M. The company said, “Due to our strong financial discipline in 2020, all operating expense line items (excluding stock-based compensation and stock-settlement obligations) were down from a year ago.
Excluding the impact of stock-based compensation and stock-settlement obligations, which represent employer and related taxes associated with the IPO, improvements in our cost structure enabled us to reduce our operating expenses on a year-over-year basis in all categories. This was due to our efforts throughout 2020 to reduce discretionary spending, improve variable costs and tightly manage fixed expenses across the company. Looking forward to 2021, we are preparing for the travel rebound. As the vaccine is rolled out and restrictions lift, we expect there will be a significant travel rebound.
Our single priority in 2021 is to prepare for this travel rebound, perfecting our existing product by improving the entire end-to-end experience of our core service for both Hosts and guests.”