One of the more impressive movers among the tech stocks that are flying today is Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB). Shares of the vacation home rental marketplace have skyrocketed in today’s session, with ABNB stock appreciating more than 6% in afternoon trading.
This move follows an announcement that the company will acquire GamePlanner.AI, a company focused on artificial intelligence (AI) technology, in a deal that’s reported to be worth around $200 million. This deal is notable because of the startup’s core talent, which includes Adam Cheyer, one of Siri’s founders before it was acquired by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Siamak Hodjat, who led the engineering team for Viv Labs at Samsung.
This acquisition appears to highlight Airbnb’s goals of improving the company’s use of large language models (LLM) and machine learning capabilities, which are already underway. Notably, this is also the company’s first acquisition in roughly four years, suggesting Airbnb could become more active in the M&A space moving forward.
Let’s dive into what investors may want to make of this deal and the subsequent price action in ABNB stock today.
ABNB Stock Soars on Key Acquisition
In an apparent arms race for talent in the world of online travel bookings, Airbnb has joined the fray, spending big to acquire a team of 12 via its GamePlanner.AI purchase. This deal appears to mirror the strategy taken by rivals Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) and Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE), which have ramped up their AI investments in a bid to improve the customer online travel booking experience.
It’s unclear exactly how this acquisition will impact consumers in terms of the user interface of Airbnb’s platform and the booking process. However, it’s clear that any AI-related efficiencies are being welcomed by investors, who clearly view the price tag paid as reasonable, given the deal’s potential benefits.
As AI technology continues to improve, companies that have invested in the capabilities to take advantage of this powerful lever may be rewarded. To a certain extent, one could argue that today’s surge in ABNB stock indicates there’s a healthy appetite for more such deals on the horizon. Accordingly, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more activity from here on out.
For now, these investments will be up-front costs investors will have to accept for the potential operational improvements down the road. We’ll see if the return on investment (ROI) is there, but it’s a great story, at least for now.
On the date of publication, Chris MacDonald did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
