HomeAway’s IPO- Is This Smart Move?
By ajay at June 30, 2011 | 10:29 am | Print
HomeAway Goes Public and shares of HomeAway surged 50% in the first hours of trading to over $40 per share representing a market cap of more than $3 billion.
HomeAway:
HomeAway is the leading vacation rental marketplace in the world with over 560,000 paid vacation rental home listings and it has by far the largest market share in its industry. Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) invested in HomeAway in 2006, and it is one of the largest investments ever made by the thirty year old venture firm.
The HomeAway marketplace brings together millions of travelers seeking vacation rentals online with hundreds of thousands of owners and managers of vacation rental properties located in over 145 countries around the world.
What VC’s Says About Company:
“We knew that HomeAway had exceptional market potential when we invested in it five years ago,” said Todd Chaffee, General Partner at IVP and a member of the Board of HomeAway. “They have a talented management team, products that deliver a remarkable ROI, and a great business model with impressive margins.”
According to travel market analysts, the vacation rental market is very large – more than $85 billion in the United States and Europe alone.
Growing Fast:
HomeAway generated $167.9 million in 2010 revenue, which is up 40% from 2009. Net Income for 2010 grew more than 100% year over year to $16.9 million. Last year, 38% of the company’s revenue came from outside the United States.
HomeAway’s websites include HomeAway.com, VRBO.com and VacationRentals.com in the United States; HomeAway.co.uk and OwnersDirect.co.uk in the United Kingdom; HomeAway.de in Germany; Abritel.fr and Homelidays.com in France; HomeAway.es in Spain; AlugueTemporada.com.br in Brazil and HomeAway.com.au in Australia.
In addition, HomeAway operates BedandBreakfast.com, a comprehensive global site for finding bed-and-breakfast properties, providing travelers with another source for unique lodging alternatives to chain hotels.
Visionwiz’s Views:
We are seeing them as a one of the leaders in vacation rental marketplace.Why? Biggest advantage goes in their favor is their global presence and their (growing) country specific business which make them more stronger.Other than that its net Income for 2010 grew more than 100% year. Apart from that their vacation listing is one of the biggest (covering more than 560,000 paid vacation rental homes). Considering its growth and expansion worldwide, we feel that its smart move by HomeAway to bring its IPO.
More at:http://www.homeaway.com/
