Airbnb cuts 2Q loss to $68 million, COVID clouds forecast

By DAVID KOENIG
AP Business Writer

Airbnb says it lost $68 million in the second quarter, but that’s smaller than losses it posted in the same quarter last year and in 2019. The company reported Thursday that its quarterly revenue was $1.34 billion, or 10% higher than in the same period during 2019, before the pandemic. Still, the resurgence of COVID-19 infections is casting a shadow over the travel business. Airbnb says new variants of the virus will make bookings and cancellations harder to predict. Airbnb’s business has picked up along with the recovery in travel that, at least in the U.S., began early this year as Americans began to get vaccinated against COVID-19.