Airbnb gets $1 billion debt facility from U.S. banks: source

A 3D printed people’s models are seen in front of a displayed Airbnb logo in this illustration taken, June 8, 2016.

Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Apartment-sharing startup Airbnb Inc has secured a $1 billion debt facility from some big U.S. banks to aid its new services and finance its expansion plans, a source close to the company said.

JPMorgan (JPM.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) led the debt deal, the source said.

Airbnb, which expects to achieve profitability in 2016, raised over $100 million in a round of funding late last year.

Bloomberg reported the funding deal earlier on Wednesday. (bloom.bg/1W0hgU0)

Representatives at JPMorgan, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America were not immediately available for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

Priceline (PCLN.O), Expedia (EXPE.O) and other travel companies have been facing increased pressure in their hotel bookings business from the rise of startups such as Airbnb.

(Reporting by Shalini Nagarajan and Shivam Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)