WASHINGTON, Aug 7 — Online holiday rental platform Airbnb recorded higher income in the second quarter, the company said on Thursday, reported German Press Agency (dpa).

The company’s earnings totalled US$816 million (RM3.45 billion), or US$1.03 per share, compared with US$642 million (RM2.71 billion), or US$1.37 per share, a year earlier.

Revenue for the period rose 16.5 per cent to US$3.608 billion (RM15.25 billion) from US$3.096 billion (RM13.08 billion) last year.

“Over the first half of 2026, we’ve delivered some of our strongest results in years,” the company said.

In the second quarter, “momentum accelerated” as it exceeded its outlook across every key metric.

Airbnb said it had “rebuilt” the company to be an artificial intelligence (AI) native company.

“AI, combined with an exceptional team and better execution, is why we’re building and iterating faster than ever before,” it said.

“This faster pace of innovation is reshaping nearly every part of Airbnb, and we believe it’s one of the reasons we’re outperforming our largest peers.”

Airbnb said the recent Fifa World Cup, hosted by the United States (US), Mexico and Canada, was a record-breaker for the company.

More than 150,000 homes across host cities were newly listed on the platform, and tournament-time stays “generated hundreds of millions of dollars in total host earnings,” it said.

“The new data shows that the Fifa World Cup was not only our biggest-ever hosting event – it also generated more earnings for hosts than any event in our history.” — Bernama-dpa