Airbnb secures additional $1 billion in debt

Airbnb has secured $1 billion in debt from a group of investors, adding to the $1 billion in debt and equity it announced last week.

Why it matters: Like the rest of the travel industry, Airbnb has taken a huge hit from the novel coronavirus pandemic, which is also raising questions about its plans to go public in 2020.

Details: The loan's interest rate is priced 7.5% above the LIBOR benchmark, a source tells Axios.

• This loan is first lien debt, meaning that it will get repaid before the loan Airbnb announced last week. The latter therefore comes with a higher interest rate because of the heightened risk to investors.
• Lenders include Apollo Global Management Inc., Benefit Street Partners, Blackstone Group Inc., Glade Brook Capital Partners, Oaktree Capital and Owl Rock Capital, as Bloomberg reported earlier.

The big picture: Airbnb cut $800 million in expenses in late March by halting all marketing spend and freezing hiring. It's also lowered its internal valuation from $31 billion to $26 billion.