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

[June 16, 2016]  (Reuters) - 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, Citigroup Inc, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp 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.

Citigroup and Bank of America declined to comment.

Representatives at JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley were not immediately available for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

Priceline, Expedia 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)

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