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Interview

Tokyo Olympics to put Airbnb 'on the map' in Japan: CEO

Planned listing for shareholder liquidity, not fundraising, says Brian Chesky

"They don't have enough hotels to house everyone," Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says of next year's summer Olympics in Tokyo. "Where are all these people going to stay?"

PALO ALTO, U.S. -- Airbnb's chief executive is optimistic about the company's prospects in the year ahead, saying he expects next summer's Tokyo Games to provide a much-needed boost in Japan while the home-sharing service heads into its planned stock market flotation with a "very healthy balance sheet."

"We've been generating cash flow for a number of years in a row ... We're not burning money, and we have raised a sizable amount," Brian Chesky said in a recent Nikkei interview. "That is definitive: We do not need to raise more money," he added, through a public listing set for next year -- when Tokyo will host the Summer Olympics, which the CEO hopes will help grow Airbnb's Japanese profile.

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