good morning it is 8:00 a.m. at airbnb headquarters in san francisco. 11:00 a.m. on wall street. "squawk alley" is live. ♪ our house in the middle of ou street, our house in the middle of our ♪ ♪ our house there's always something happening it's usually quite loud ♪ ♪ our mom keeps our house proud

nothing slows her down and a mess is not allowed ♪ our house in the middle of our streets ♪ >> good thursday morning welcome to "squawk alley." the ipo window is wide open. yesterday, doordash with a blockbuster debut. today, we adiwait the opening trade in one of the highest anticipated ipos of the year airbnb latest indication, $150 a share you sat down with the co founder and ceo brian chesky earlier this morning. >> that's right. one thing i took away is even as we see this valuation climb, he's still extremely focused on their core business of home sharing. as we look at this indicated price, investors, though, they may be starting to ask what's next, what gets airbnb to the massive premium being placed on the business right now i did press on things like advertising, payments, perhaps, even their own cryptocurrency. he didn't bite on those areas, but he did point to opportunity

and longer stays >> on the guest side, we think there's a lot of opportunities, as well. for example, something a lot of people don't know, last year, 14% of our business were stays longer than 28 days. that's growing more than 50% what's happening is traveling and living are starting to blur together in this world of flexibility. people aren't just going to the same 20 cities, traveling for business for two nights. they're starting to live all over the world they're doing it on airbnb that opens the door to so many different possibilities, services, and offerings that we can now do because people really want to feel grounded where they're living >> so perhaps the next disruption, those longer-term home rental sites. now, i also asked him about airbnb's china business. this is an important market for them, but it is also one that's come under some scrutiny for the information that they have to share with the government. i did ask chesky if he was prepared to rethink that market, rethink their strategy, if the requirements did become too

difficult. as we've seen other tech companies have to do >> i think i've shown, and we've shown, that we are prepared to make tough decisions when we need to. we are prepared. if you look at the last eight months, every step of the way, we've tried to do our very best to take care of stakeholders, whether it's our guest, our host, our communities. and always decide, not just make a business decision, but do a principled decision, even when you're not sure what the outcome is going to look like. i think if you do that kind of stuff, and you act in that way, i think the business eventually turns itself around. >> now, of course, we know that airbnb is one of the oldest unicorns, 13 years old they've been looking at a potential ipo for years already. this timing that they are going at, though, though the plans were delayed and delays, could not be more perfect with doordash yesterday as john said at the start of the show, the ipo market is wide open, carl >> it's amazing.

chesky was asked about some of the indications that we're seeing as he made the rounds today ch sa today. said, the high teravainen prier higher the expectation at $150, they have a shot at a valuation that's larger than hilton and marriott combined >> yeah. but if it weren't worth more than hilton and marriott, i don't know, in three to five years, wouldn't that be kind of disappointing, given the fact that this is a platform and it's not just a platform for lodging? it's also for experiences, for travel in general. he mentioned this, it's funny i mentioned it this morning on ""squawk box," but it seems like a significant factor in this pandemic environment, and hopefully after as we move into next year. a lot of cities seem to be realizing, some for the first time, that they need diversity in their lodging options people are coming to airbnbs, they're coming back there more quickly thanhotels

if you're a city that wants to lock them out, you're thinking, well, maybe we ought to set rules and welcome them in. maybe not lock them out entirely >> yeah, that's a good point it is important to them for tax revenue, and also for hosts in terms of extra income they can be earning of course, not without its challenges you also have, you know, not a small group of communities that don't want to see their communities turned into tourist destinations, especially this year when people are traveling more domestically. let's dig in more to this blockbuster ipo. our next guest is an early airbnb investor and adviser to its board. founders fund partner brian zimmerman joins us now good morning and thank you for being with us. >> morning great to be here >> now, i know that this has been a long term story for you and the partners at founders fund, but i can't help but start with this indicated price, which like doordash yesterday, we have seen climb this morning.

have you seen anything like this as a vc, in terms of how hot this ipo market is, and does it make you get a little nervous about the valuations? >> well, i mean, one could always ask whether valuations are too high, but one could also say maybe the market for tech companies is much larger than we originally thought i don't try and predict the future on the public market, so i don't know what's going to happen i do know airbnb is a fantastic company, always has been, always will be. that's why we're proud to be investors there. >> right and you guys became investment way back in 2011, i believe. it was the series b round. it's been, as i keep saying, it's been private for a long time, for a unicorn. what'd you see then? what do you think airbnb could be worth ten years from now? >> again, i'm not going to put any price targets on airbnb. i will say that there are a lot of things that attracted us to the airbnb investments in the early days one was it was definitely at the starts of showing a huge international network effect,

which is rarely ever seen. b, the brand was already becoming huge. people were saying, oh, i'm going to stay in an airairbnb. when you start to see company names used as a noun, used as a verb, you know you're at the starts of something pretty big we started to see that we decided to make a large investment there >> brian, good morning it's john. for me, watching airbnb for a long time, this year in particular, recast their story, there is this element of sobriety that entered into it. you saw this company knocked off its perch in a major way, and you're seeing it climb back again. you're also seeing, i think, this different look, probably from cities and a lot of places, at the importance of tourism, and perhaps this product is part of that. how do you look at those things as an investor >> i thought it was a great point that was made. i mean, airbnb, cities are not -- can't rely on just hotels anymore. that's the thing what you're seeing from the public markets is airbnb being

valued as relative to the hotels, even from an absolute perspective, during the pandemic, things are going to be down relative perspective for the future, airbnb looks great compared to hotels and compared to many other forms of lodging i think that's why you're seeing a lot of the excitements in the market >> brian, chesky talked about the process of building up trust and, obviously, all the challenges that have come along with that. why do you think that attempts at true competition in their sandbox have fallen so flat? >> i mean, i think brian chesky and the entire founding team at airbnb is just special they know this particular market, right? they know the homes business so well it's tough to kind of come into that, like -- there are smart people out there in the business world, and they can kind of come in and try to clone it, try to do it just as well those guys live and breathe this they wrote the book on this, right? i think it's very, very, very hard to challenge that

i'm very bullish on the airbnb leadership team knowing how to run this type of business versus people who are trying to break into it. >> brian, when i think about airbnb, i think about a big company, maybe the biggest in the sharing economy, where somebody has got an asset and will rent to somebody else separate, different from the gig economy, based more on people being able to work when they want in different ways are you making other sharing economy type investments, or is airbnb unique? are we going to see this in cars, in offices, in planes and boats more and more, or is this a uniquely large opportunity >> well, you know, it's a good question, but we don't think about macrospaces ever i don't think about macrospaces. we think about what are the best companies, right so if there was a company in one of those spaces that was doing as well as airbnb was doing, we'd seriously look at it. it takes a special company to

pull this kind of thing off, right? not just a macrosector not just because it is a good idea, but because it is a special company. that's where you'll see us making our bets in the future. it's all about the micro it's all about, what are the best companies in whatever space they're in >> brian, pre-pandemic, airbnb was in spending mode i know not all of its earlier investors were happy with this they saw even off profitability, 2017/2018. turned to losses in 2018 covid hit, and they went into cost cutting mode. what do you have to do going forward? should they be taking advantage of this moment, when more people are wanting to rent a home, sharing homes, or do they need to continue with that fiscal discipline >> i mean, i think what you've seen, and this is kind of proof of what i was saying, was the management team was able to kind of adapt so quickly. quicker than anybody ever thought possible, to a massive change in the scenery, like

covid, right so i trust the management team's ability to adapt to either spend, not spend, spend on marketing, not spend on marketing, based on what is best for the company. that's kind of the most important thing that i'm getting at here. is when the management team is that good, and provably that good, right? nobody would have thought this kind of turnaround during covid was possible that's what i get excited about going forward, not what should theyspecifically do. i just believe they will make a good decision. >> brian, chesky made some interesting comments about the future of travel overall, and it's generally come down to, it's not going to be the same. it is going to be more diffused. people are going to be going to different destinations, smaller destinations, maybe because it's domest domestic, but even beyond that i just wonder, what's the risk in perhaps travel really going back to the way we used to go to, all the landmark tourist destinations around the world? >> oh, yeah. brian has always been saying that we were going to have -- we

were going to open up travel to more and more experiences, to more and more variety. you just can't do that with large, fixed asset hotels, right? so if it does go into that at all, if it goes into people wanting to have different experiential type stays, airbnb is in a phenomenal place, compared to any other travel asset, right so i think they're in a good place regardless of what happens, but that has been something he's talked about for a very long time in terms of expansion of travel into more underserved places, where it's really difficult to get the fixed assets together to build hotel structure. >> brian, it's not just airbnb, but founders fund has had a number of early bets come to market, seeing them go public either through a traditional ipo or a direct listing. so my last question for you, what's the next big bet in venture investing? what are you looking at right now, now that you see airbnb go public >> well, we can certainly -- if

you look at anything in our portfolio, we're only making bets we think can be fund returning type bets. that's kind of what we do. you know, some examples you've had on your show enderel could be a huge company going forward. there's several others in our portfolio. we are not resting in any way, shape, or form, right? we still want to make these huge, you know, fund returning, definitive type venture bets if you look at our portfolio, that's what we're continuing to show >> brian, that's a good point. also, a good reminder that while we look at how hot the public markets are right now, the private markets remain flushed with cash, also. this year started very differently. brian, thank you for being with us today hope to talk to you again soon. >> no problem. thanks for having me let's talk some facebook this morning as you know, dual lawsuits from the ftc and the states attorneys general, alleging the social media engaged in acquisitions

that violated anti-trust laws. shares resting right at the 50-day this morning, john. facebook did say the complaints amount to, quote, revisionist history, and it's a good point these deals were approved and, in a way, it's no backsies. >> yeah, kaif you're looking at the acquisitions themselves, instagram was timely you could fit the whole team in a big hotel bathroom when facebook made the buy for $1 billion. what's app, it seemed insane they'd buy them for $19 billion plus, several years ago. there was no revenue model over there. in a sense, they have unique value when they're combined with facebook i think the question here, and i don't think the government has quite answered this, is what exactly is the problem that you have with facebook there are a few that you could have, if the problem is you think facebook is just acting like a thug uniquely and want to break them up, okay.

but if the problem is you think that this targeted data market creates some perverse incentives for how you do business, you could have three companies with the same incentives and maybe you don't get rid of the problem. it'll be interesting to see exactly how that problem gets defined as some of these revenues, guys, get pursued. >> john, that's a good question. which is also, you know, underlying what you just outlined who exactly is facebook bad for? is it bad for its users, the consumers that use the platform, or is it bad for other businesses, the start-up ecosystem that's trying to grow to compete with the likes? there it is a difficult argument we've seen some of its toughest competition in terms of tiktok and even snap coming back. >> yup that's when you start going back to the '70s and robert borg and what anti-trust means in this country. huge implications for corporate america. we'll take a break here. latest indications on airbnb still $150

keeping our eyes peeled for the opening trade. back in a minute personalized wealth planning and unmatched overall value. together with a dedicated advisor, you'll make a plan that can adjust as your life changes, with access to tax-smart investing strategies that help you keep more of what you earn. and with brokerage accounts, you see what you'll pay before you trade. personalized advice. unmatched value. at fidelity, you can have both. ♪ more than this ...i was just fighting an uphill battle in my career. so when i heard about the applied digital skills courses, i'm thinking i can become more marketable. you don't need to be a computer expert to be great at this. these are skills lots of people can learn. i feel hopeful about the future now. ♪

people are saving hundreds on the most reliable i feel hopeful in a land not so far away, network with xfinity mobile. they can choose from the latest phones or bring their own. and choose the data option that's right for them. they even get nationwide 5g at no extra cost. and since they are on the carrier rated #1 in customer satisfation, they live happily ever after. again, again! xfinity mobile. your wireless. your rules. your way to stay closer together.

click, call, or visit an xfinity store today. welcome back with today's public debut for airbnb, we want to shine a spotlight on the sharing economy in general that's something our next guest specializes in ceo of turo joins us now what could be called the airbnb of cars. andre, good to have you. i want to ask how this year that

we're in how affected your business because on the one hand, people are not going out as much as they were before on the other, people need cars more you're re-entering new york, which is a market you haven't been in in a while are there doors opening for you? >> it's been a roller coaster of a year, as it has been for many businesses and many people around the world the pandemic initially hit the business at turo pretty hard we realized very quickly in the second quarter of the year that there was just a huge pent-up need for people to get transportation travel, despite the pandemic so we hit record revenue, milestones in q3 we made incredible progress on profitability milestones throughout the year. and the year is ending in a much better place for us, as you mentioned. we recently announced our return to the empire state. we're delighted to be returning to new york in early 2021. >> now, i also have come to

think of you guys as sort of not just sharing economy, but, in a way, infrastructure for the gig economy, right some of these car sharing programs can end up fueling people's ability to get access to a vehicle, and then, for example, drive for a doordash. how big a segment of your business is that now do you know? are there ways you plan to accelerate that in the future? >> like many other marketplaces, you know, our marketplace has become a place where individuals can share and earn a few dollars every month. also, people are looking for economic opportunities, lever e leveraging our marketplace whether it's finding a car in order to conduct their business, or starting a small business of a small fleet on the turo marketplace itself so we've seen tremendous growth over the last year, whether it's in the multi-car hosts, as we

call them, people having not just one car but two, three, or four cars, and starting a business we rent kri will lalaunched an e turo seed, where we're helpi ii provide capital to some of the underprivileged communities in the country, in order to help them start a car sharing business on turo >> andre, if doordash and airbnb's ipo suggests that investment for sharing economies is booming, are you looking at tapping capital markets? how do you better take advantage of not just this investor interest, but perhaps the digital transportation and the opportunity the pandemic has sped up? >> i think the pandemic has definitely accelerated our growth plans and our plans to tap into the markets in the future so we're very excited to see the success of doordash. we have many friends and former colleagues working there

very excited to see airbnb starting to trade today. we have many friends and colleagues there certainly, i think the success of these two and many others over the year is helping accelerate our plans ourselves to consider these options in the near future. >> when you say consider these options in the near future, does that include a public listing, and what metrics are you looking at to know when you want to get there? >> i think that's -- we'll include that option, for sure. you know, we're looking at the continued revenue growth of the business we're looking at continuing to make progress on our profitability milestones i think this combined with the hope that with the vaccination rollouts in the first half of next year, we're going to see a significant bounce in travel in the second half. we think that there is a huge pent-up demand for travel.

many people have delayed their plans for everything from getting together with friends or family or, you know, weddings or anniversaries. we expect travel to bounce back very strongly in the second half of next year >> andre, hertz went bankrupt, and i've noticed you're doing in new york these relationships with smaller rental companies. i wonder how much of your future is individuals sort of renting out cars that they leave in their driveways, as opposed to more institutioninstitutionaliz, formalized arrangements, where there are cars in parking lots, even airports, and it feels more like the rental car experience that people are perhaps used to. >> well, the individual consumer sharing their vehicle will remain the heart and soul of our business, like it is for air b a and b, like it is at ebay, where i spent many years that motivates and inspires the entire team at turo.

i think it really inspires the entire sharing economy ecosystem. however, as our marketplaces and platforms become really large and very liquid, we are attracting, as i mentioned, entrepreneurs who are building their businesses on turo, as well as established, independent rental car operators so we're very agnostic we want to offer the best service to all, so we have a very open marketplace. individuals, as well as small businesses, are welcome to join. >> yeah, i think that's a particularly interesting angle i mean, if i know i can get this car, it is going to be cleaned, there's a business behind it, that certainly could have a draw andre, ceo of turo, thanks for being with us. >> thank you for having me john, the latest indication on airbnb is still open at $150. remember, priced at $68. the first trade in just a moment do stay with us.

e to see more? at morgan stanley, a global collective of thought leaders offers investors a broader view. ♪ we see companies protecting the bottom line by putting people first. we see a bright future, still hungry for the ingenuity of those ready for the next challenge. today, we are translating decades of experience into strategies for the road ahead. we are morgan stanley. some things are good to know. like where to find the cheapest gas in town and which supermarket gives you the most bang for your buck. something else that's good to know? if you have medicare and medicaid you may be able to get more healthcare benefits through a humana medicare advantage plan. call the number on your screen now and speak to a licensed humana sales agent to see if you qualify. learn about plans that could give you more healthcare benefits than you have today.

depending on the plan you choose, you could have your doctor, hospital and prescription drug coverage in one convenient plan. from humana, a company with nearly 60 years of experience in the healthcare industry. you'll have lots of doctors and specialists to choose from. and, if you have medicare and medicaid, a humana plan may give you other important benefits. depending on where you live, they could include dental, vision and hearing coverage. you may also get rides to plan-approved locations; home delivered meals after an in-patient hospital stay; a monthly allowance for purchasing healthy food and beverages; plus an allowance for health and wellness items. everything from over the counter medications and vitamins, to first aid items and personal care products. best of all, if you have medicare and medicaid, you may qualify for multiple opportunities throughout the year to enroll. so if you want more from medicare, call the number on your screen now to

speak with a licensed humana sales agent. learn about humana plans that could give you more healthcare benefits. including coverage for prescription drugs, dental care, eye exams and glasses, hearing aids and more. a licensed humana sales agent will walk you through your options, answer any questions you have and, if you're eligible, help you enroll over the phone. call today and we'll also send this free guide. humana, a more human way to healthcare.

latest indication on airbnb, still 150. would give it a fully diluted valuation of $100 billion. live shot of the nasdaq, as well heller is the head of markets and execution. on a normal day, we'd be getting indications directly from him. things are a little different these days 15t we are getting the $0 number on your screen. back in a minute wing while keeping your business growing has you swamped. (♪ ) you need to hire i need indeed indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base so you can start hiring right away. claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo

welcome back, everybody. i'm sue herera here's your cnbc update at this hour joe biden announcing a slew of nominations for key positions in his administration he has chosen vilsack to head the agriculture department, a job he held for eight years of the obama administration biden has also tapped representative marcia fudge to head housing and urban development. susan rice to be director of the white house's domestic policy council. the national weather service says la nina, the weather pattern, should continue through march, driving warmer, drier weather in many areas across the country. however, forecasters now say there's also a higher chance that more neutral weather patterns would emerge in the spring in omaha, a third person has

died from injuries in a huge explosion that leveled one house and damaged others and taylor swift has announced her second new album of the pandemic, "evermore" will drop tonight and be accompanied by a video for one of the new songs. swift describes "evermore" as a sister album to "folklore" which she released in july swifties all over the world can hardly wait. i'll send it back to you >> can't say i'm one of them, but i'm happy for the swifties sue, thank you. let's turn back to airbnb as we continue to await the first trade. our next two guests have unique ties to the company. michael is the co-founder and ceo and mentor to airbnb founder, brian chesky. also, we have an early investor in airbnb. gentlemen, good morning and thanks for being with us >> good morning. >> thanks for having me. >> michael, let me come to you

first. because you were there in the very earliest days, when chesky and and gebbiea were trying to sell breakfast cereal to stay afloat. >> i'm happy for the founders. brian, joe, and nate have been amazing. back then, when they were struggling, it was so clear how strong they were, how much humility they had, how much fortitude and perseverance they had. it is not surprising they got here today >> ron, i know that you have been close with the founders since the very, very early days, as well. you said something recently that i thought was interesting. you said that chesky was a founder, where it wasn't his dream to go public but that he did recognize the process. how do you think that he will grow now into a public company ceo? >> i think he'll transition very nicely he's very, very ambitious.

the fact that airbnb has three founders evangelizing the mission and culture of the company, i think they will transition very smoothly as a public company >> right we've certainly seen them lay the groundwork to this point michael, when you look ahead, what do you think are some of the biggest challenges on the horizon for the company? >> well, i think that there are two big opportunities for them the first is airbnb is responsible for rebuilding global travel in the post covid world. they're going to be figuring out how to make it safe, how to make it convenient, and how to make it affordable for everyone who is looking for alternative solutions. and then i think the second thing that's most interesting is that, you know, the future of work, as we all are working from home, airbnb is in the best position to support workers who are now basically able to blur

the lines between a one to two-week vacation rental and a one-year apartment rental. so i think there are a lot of great opportunities ahead. >> ron, slack, what was one of the companies that you've dealt with, caviar, which i guess doordash picked up, pager duty, which went public not too long ago. you've got a pretty interesting exit here. what's the investing strategy going forward for smaller companies out there? a lot of people expected that there would be a vin e investing activity, but you have to think maybe that's not the case. >> the pandemic has not slowed the investing environment at all. sv angel, we continue to invest in one newfou founder a week. our mantra has been, we invest in the people first. through the pandemic, we've been as active as ever.

this week, we couldn't be prouder of doordash and airbnb, because these are mission-driven companies. they want to solve the income inequality by allowing people to augment their income, in the case ofairbnb, and then doordash literally saving the restaurant industry so they can keep their delivery and takeout operations open. so it's great to see two mission-driven companies come to this liquidity event for their stakeholders. >> michael, i love this conversation because we've got, like, the most important slice of the innovation pipeline in silicon valley right here. we have sv angel and y commentator. i was just talking yesterday with credit karma ceo, just

raised a $10 million series-a. great guy. unique founder what's happening out there with those scrappy entrepreneurs who are trying to make things happen how is it operating differently in this strange environment? >> over the summer, we had to make yc remote it was a great challenge we had an amazing batch of founders we had over 12,000 companies apply. it turned out to be a gift in disguise we were able to help founders in 15 different time zones around the world. on our demo day in august, investors came through in spades and invested hundreds of millions of dollars in these companies. so i think the ecosis the ystems bright to be honest, both the united states and around the world, almost 40% of our summer batch is international that trend is not going away >> ron, i wonder if you can comment on potential use of the

funds that they're going to raise. normally, when a hotel company does a big raise, they go out and develop new properties the properties are already built. what do they do with this several billion dollars? >> well, it's always goods to have a war chest because the pandemic, i think, taught us that war chests are not a bad thing. and these companies, doordash and airbnb, can use this to expand their business. they already have a huge leg up. in the case of airbnb, 91% of their traffic is organic they don't have to pay to find customers. airbnb, 91% of the traffic comes to them. booking.com spends hundreds of millions buying ads to get customers. airbnb, you know, has that leg up the other cool thing that i'm

thinking about this week is we have two companies that have become noun and verbs. airbnb is now a noun and a verb. doordash, dashers. these companies are creating great, lasting brands, and are a gift to the tech community >> well, you know, john said something interesting. he said that both of you guys are in the earliest stages of the start-up ecosystem we should remember that because, you know, scrutiny, the anti-trust scrutiny we're talking about, centered on the big tech companies, talks about what it means for the start-up ecosystem. i wonder, both of your opinions, michael first, is the big tech dominance, is it stifling or encouraging and enablie ining ae start-up level >> the way i think about this is that whenever a company gets big, it gets slow. whenever a company gets slow, it gets less responsive to its

customers. so in my mind, as the companies that are trying to come up today, there are always opportunities. there are always angles. there are always users who want more so a lot of start-ups are very, very confident in this environment. >> ron, briefly, what are your thoughts on regulation of big tech >> well, the big companies are actually, as michael said, creating plenty of new opportunities in their spaces because they're so big there's multiple markets that the start-ups can go occupy. as the big guys get bigger >> ron, you're called sv angel, but there is talk about silicon valley not being the center of gravity it once was. both of these companies are silicon valley companies do you find yourself looking more outside of the geographic

silicon valley do you think that california policies have put the weight and credibility of silicon valley in danger, or is that overblown >> well, the tax rates in california are a little onerous, but sv angel has always believed that it is better for the economy if we have start-ups all over this country. the two coasts should not be where all the start-ups are. so i would hope, with rise of the rest, it's encouraging and funding companies to start up in the midwest. our country is very polarized today. by creating jobs, which is what the tech industry does, if we could start new companies in the center of this country, i think it'll create an economic boom in

the middle of the country and solve some of this polarization that we have today job creation, which is what tech is so good at, we need to spread that to the middle of this country. >> michael, similar question for you to end on. in terms of what you're seeing at yc combinator, are more start-ups coming from outside the bay area >> honestly, we're seeing start-ups all over the world i think that in this next evolution of this start-up ecosystem, people are going to stop thinking about it being located in just one place. the reality is there are amazingly talented and technical founders all over the world, and they're all interconnected into the same community so, you know, as yc has gone remote, it is more clear how we can reach people wherever they are. during the summer, we've done outreach to over 50,000 college students around the world. many in india.

so the idea that start-up ecosystem is in one place, i think that idea is going to go away >> okay. michael and ron, thank you so much for being with us today congratulations on the ipo the airbnb ipo. >> thank you. >> thank you so much as we've been talking, indications have hopped up a bit to $153. bloomberg has an analysis that says it's now poised for the biggest opening surge since at least 2008 coincidentally, the year that airbnb was founded we're back in a minute

if you missed it, take your glasses off and clean the lenses before you look at this. shares of c3ai it is up another 33% today after a 140% pop in its debut yesterday. love to know how that happened people didn't buy what they wanted yesterday i don't know one of the beneficiaries of that surge is microsoft early investor doubled their money after the ipo. we, of course, spoke to founder and ceo tom seibel ahead of the open watch the interview and find out what's behind today's upswing. i want tkno ow on cnbc.com. we are back in a moment. -well, audrey's expecting... -twins! grandparents! we want to put money aside for them, so...change in plans. alright, let's see what we can adjust. ♪

we'd be closer to the twins. change in plans. okay. mom, are you painting again? you could sell these. lemme guess, change in plans? at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. new projects means leyou need to hire.gers.lans? i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home.

watching indications of airb&b this morning. let's talk about what we may see, i guess, in maybe the next hour or so, nelson good morning >> hey, carl how you doing? yeah, thanks for having me on. i think that's about right if you think you're watching the same thing i am, we have about 3.3 million shares paired at this moment. like to get around anywhere from 10% to 20% of the offering size. so there's still work to do. >> talk about -- i mean, this is an important one, and the degree to which there's either additional pressure on you or additional precautions you're

taking to make sure it's smooth. >> well, we've been -- we test our systems all the time we've done -- over this year, we'll do about 300 ipos. the last five years, we've done over 1,000 we're constantly testing we always test the capacity levels,testing we always test the capacity levels, et cetera. this is a very big deal for the marketplace and something we're very well prepared for and it's going very smoothly. >> my eyes keep darting over to the indicated price as well. this is arguably the most anticipated ipo of the year. i wonder how you guys are positioning yourselves ahead of a few other big tech companies you expect to see go public next year >> we love our presence in san francisco. i have roughly 50-plus employees in the bay area. i think this is just a testament

to airbnb and how well they perform this your and such an unprecedented year the markets are, back in march if you would have seen 300 ipos, no one believed that, right? so we're in a pretty unique moment we think we'll have over 14 ipos that will raise north of a billion dollars. that's 60% of those offerings. we are lining up a very, very robust q1. i can tell you a lot of deals wo we're looking at the end of next year it's a very open ipo market. stocks performing very well and we do expect that to continue. >> nelson, i can't remember a head fake like this one in the ipo market ever. give us some color, if you can tell us how the conversation changed leading up to this season and a look forward at how for those companies that are trying to get closer into that

q1, q2 time frame, what their thinking is and what their process is that they're accelerating >> i think you know the story that when the market really stopped in march, a handful of companies that were brave enough, already on file, decided to test this new way of going public with the online road shows and that is about a four-day process i think the community did a tremendous job and had the markets perform very well. initially it was more pinpointed toward technology, health, health care. it has been a broad-based sector driven ipo market. you saw success beget success. you have the average ipo up over 50% this year, versus the nasdaq composite at 40 and s&p at 15. you've seen a tremendous amount of investor enthusiasm for the ipo market i think that is what we do know, i've been involved with nasdaq for 20 years and windows do open and close.

right now there's clearly a window and so i think if you are a private company and you also have this optionality of this back market, the ipo market, particularly with a capital raise, you are looking at being public being very attractive because it does give you that access to currency we're really enthusiastic when we talk to companies and they're very excited >> there's been this ongoing debate over the first state pop and whether that's good pr or leaves a ton of money in this case on the table. some say it's an indication, like bill gurley, that the system is broken door dash and airbnb, they used technology that was supposed to minimize that first-day pop yet here we are looking at more than doubling of that indicated price for airbnb of course we saw door -- yesterday. >> i think when you just have general enthusiasm for an ipo. if you look at those deals, they did already when they're on the

road raise their price range significantly. they both priced significant lisignificantly above the range. but clearly there's a limited amount of shares that are out there. investors are anxious to participate in these stocks. i think you even look at other processes -- the marketplace is a pretty exciting time there are unique ways the companies are looking at how to even auction before they go public i think you will see more direct themes next year i think when you have a company when there's that much enthusiasm behind it, it is hard to gauge what that pop might be. >> your point about direct listings did say they had contemplated that at one point i wondered if you were part of those conversations at the time and if you know why the calculus might have changed for them. >> i certainly wouldn't comment on one company but i will tell you, you cannot make that

decision a month before you go public there is a lot of planning that goes into either a direct listing or an ipo. so we've been talking to companies for a while, showing how airbnb is part of that population that companies are talking to why they might have changed, that's really a question for airbnb but, again, you can't pivot into a different process or a direct listing right before you go ipo, your documents, the filings will dictate what that will look like, direct or ipo. >> congratulations in advance, nelson we can't wait to see it when this goes. nelson griggs with nasdaq. >> appreciate it >> we can't stop looking at it, latest indication for airbnb to open at $153 a share but it has been moving higher and there's

more to go more of a tafter the break. stay with us - [narrator] at southern new hampshire university,

we're committed to making college more accessible

by making it more affordable, that's why we're keeping our tuition the same through the year 2021. - i knew snhu was the place for me when i saw how affordable it was. i ran to my husband with my computer and i said, "look, we can do this." - [narrator] take advantage of some of the lowest online tuition rates in the nation. find your degree at snhu.edu. looking forward to teaming up with you in the same building tonight for the first time since election night safely distanced our special race and opportunity

in america, taking a look at the status of latinos in the u.s we really want to focus on data, that question of the american dream is opportunity open to all at the rate that it should be so that the entire economy moves forward. >> yeah. john, it's going to be a great conversation at 8:00 eastern time not just a matter of what needs to be done in the future about what latinos have already done the number of latino business owners is up 34% versus 1% in the population at large. we can't wait to dig into some of those issues for the decade ahead. >> you're going to be doing q & a on linked in i want to check in on the latest indicated price for airbnb

hoping to get that trade any moment indicated at $153. guys, what a week. i'll leave it there, carl. >> well said you can't say more than that so buy tonight we'll know more about airbnb, hopefully some news out of fda on the pfizer vaccine, we'll have the disney investor and for now let's get to the judge >> welcome to the "halftime report." i'm scott wapner serious questions being raised about some valuations and how much further those stocks may need to fall john najarian, jenny harrington, courtney gibson is the president of loop capital markets. let's go to the wall let me show you where stocks are