. On top of that, the warrants would price the shares, should they convert, at a steep discount, a valuation of $18 billion, almost half of Airbnb's previous valuation of $31 billion. helped Airbnb raise another $1 billion in debt from a list of other bankers in a five-year loan. This one didn't involve selling
Looking back at the company's decision to take on that debt rather than raise another round of equity, Blecharczyk said it was "the right way to go" because taking on equity would have hurt existing shareholders. "We chose to raise debt versus equity, right? Because you know, equity would have diluted us, especially given the state of the world at that point. People were saying our valuation was $18 billion. So, to raise equity at that price would have heavily diluted the company, the shareholders, the employees," he explained.