Airbnb Q2 2026: revenue up 16.5%, $816M net income, raised outlook
Airbnb's second quarter was an acceleration story: revenue rose 16.5% to $3.608 billion, net income hit $816 million, and management raised its full-year outlook again. GAAP earnings of $1.27 a share only matched the $1.2769 consensus and leaned on a $77 million tax benefit, so the headline beat is about demand, not profit per share. Read the revenue and margin lines first; treat the tax item as noise.
1 · Expected vs. Actual
Free preview belowGAAP diluted earnings came in at $1.27 a share against a $1.2769 consensus, a technical miss of less than a cent. Net income of $816 million rose sharply from $642 million a year earlier, and management attributes the increase to higher operating income plus a $77 million benefit recorded in the period related to prior-year taxes. That tax item is non-recurring in nature, so the profit line is less impressive than the year-over-year jump suggests.
Revenue of $3.608 billion rose 16.5% from $3.096 billion a year ago, which the company rounds to 17% growth. Gross margin was 82.5%, essentially flat against the 82.4% booked in the same quarter last year and well above the 78.3% of Q1 2026, a dip that looks like normal seasonality rather than deterioration. Gross booking value of $27.2 billion grew 16.0% and the implied take rate held in line, so Airbnb is taking roughly the same slice of a bigger pie.
For Q3 2026 Airbnb guides to $4.69 billion to $4.77 billion of revenue, a $4.73 billion midpoint that implies roughly 15.5% growth over the $4.095 billion booked in Q3 2025. Management also says full-year 2026 revenue growth will improve to at least mid teens and that full-year Adjusted EBITDA margin will be at least 35.5%, an improvement over 2025. Both of those are raises, and raises are the part of guidance that carries the most information.
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Figures on this page come from the company's original SEC filings. The analysis is generated automatically and checked against validation rules, but may still contain errors or omissions. Not investment advice. · Generated 2026-09-17
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