Airbnb’s S-1 in 2020 revealed how it weathered the pandemic and its financials

An S-1 reveals financial and other details to the public, often for the first time, when filing for an IPO

To file for an IPO, a company must file a registration form called an S-1 or prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. S-1s detail a company's current business model, competitive landscape, and other financial information.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company

Those revelations include the company's unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

WeWork filed its first S-1 in 2019

When WeWork prepared to file for its initial public offering in 2019, its S-1 revealed its poor financial state to the public.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public

A prospectus typically contains information about the company's operations, including details about its management team and their compensation, financial statements, how it intends to use any capital raised by the IPO, and more. While these documents can be dense and lengthy, experts say that some of the most important sections of a prospectus for investors to look at include the risk factors section and the use of proceeds section.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

SPACs, explained

Special purpose acquisition companies make it easy for mature unicorns (companies valued at over $1B) to receive growth capital by going public. This process effectively skips the work of a traditional initial public offering, and its time-intensive investor negotiations. Typically, a well-known investor with expertise in a certain industry sponsors a SPAC with the intent to acquire a startup. Learn how it works and the risks involved here.

7 prominent investors rejected Airbnb in its early days

Airbnb is arguably known as one of the most successful startup stories of all time. But back in 2008, many prominent investors rejected their pitch when they went out to raise money—and Airbnb's founder still has the rejection emails to prove it.

Read about the day Palantir went public in 2020

After more than 15 years in business, Palantir held its initial public offering (IPO) via a direct listing—meaning the company didn't rely on underwriters to assess the initial trading price or stock value. Palantir's stock ended the day trading 31% higher than the reference price.

SAFE is a financial tool that stands for ‘simple agreement for future equity’

In the first part of a two-part series, SAFEs are explained as a way angel investors safeguard their investment in a startup. These agreements outline equity expectations.

Airbnb started as a vacation rental startup and soon disrupted the hospitality industry

In this podcast episode, Airbnb gets the "How I Built This" treatment. The "How I Built This" host speaks with the entrepreneurs behind today's largest businesses about how they got started. In this episode, Airbnb's cofounder Joe Gebbia talks about how he built Airbnb.

A direct listing is when a company goes public, listing shares on a stock exchange

A direct listing is when a company goes public, listing its shares on a stock exchange, rather than issuing new shares or raising capital. That means investment banks—traditionally serving as intermediaries—could lose out on some of the profits from these deals as more companies like Spotify opt for direct listings.

Ride along on one coffee company’s journey through the stock market

From going public with an initial public offering, to struggling with how negative news coverage impacts a stock’s value, this video lets you put yourself in the shoes of a newly public company. This makes learning about the inner workings of the stock market much easier.

Amazon sends its first-ever letter to shareholders every year

The first letter to Amazon’s shareholders, written by founder and then-CEO Jeff Bezos in 1997, is a key part of the Amazon story—laying out the company’s long-term approach to the business and several of its core operating values. Bezos emphasizes, for example, Amazon’s plan to start with a bookstore but to evolve into a much larger ecosystem.

More than $3.5B has been invested through AngelList

AngelList was created to connect startups and angel investors. It’s evolved since its 2010 founding and has been used by companies like Uber and OpenSea.

Read about the evolution of the S&P 500 and its recession recovery

Since the S&P 500 is considered a bellwether index (meaning it represents the health of the US economy), its value is important for investors in both bull and bear markets. The S&P 500 has been impacted by recessions and downturns, from the 1970s oil crisis to the dot-com crash of the early 2000s.

Bumble went public with an IPO in 2021

That year, Bumble Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd became the youngest female CEO to ever take a company public. The company pivoted during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, focusing its marketing strategy on promoting social-distanced dating and its video chat features.

Explore the PGA Tour's tax filings

The PGA Tour has been a nonprofit since it split from the PGA of America in 1968 and is required by law to publicly file its Form 990. This ProPublica interactive explores the publicly available tax information about the PGA Tour, including reports of first-class flights and notable sources of revenue.

The story of Klarna's IPO

BNPY company Klarna went public on the NYSE in September 2025, roughly 20 years after it was founded. At the time, Klarna made roughly three-quarters of its revenue via merchant fees, charging a small premium for each purchase.

The pandemic forged new FIRE followers

The FIRE movement gained steam during the pandemic, when some were inspired to clean financial house amid an environment of global economic uncertainty.

Series I bonds are a form of government savings bonds created to shield your investments from inflation

Specifically, I bonds earn interest from both a fixed rate and an inflation rate. This article explains who might benefit from investing in I Bonds—for instance, people seeking to invest savings they do not need to access in the near future.

Explaining the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank

In March 2023, Silicon Valley Bank—the nation's 16th largest bank at the time—collapsed after a rapid run on its deposits. Among other factors, the bank had placed more than half of its investments into long-term bonds, leaving it without the necessary cash on hand as its clients, largely start ups, panicked and withdrew their money at the same time. This visualization lays out the timeline and impact of the collapse.

Roughly 10% of US apartments were owned by private equity firms as of 2025

Almost half of those apartments were purchased after 2021. However, local community groups across the country are experimenting with ways to put residential and commercial real estate in the hands of community members.

BTS makes big profits, and spends just as big

While the band has been on hiatus since 2022, there are remarkable insights into the band’s success, like a $44M profit from a six-show tour. Their profits allow them massive spending, with investments like a shared mansion in addition to owning their own multimillion-dollar apartments.

Health savings accounts evolved out of medical savings accounts introduced in the 1990s

After medical savings accounts in Singapore and South Africa proved successful, the US introduced a pilot program for small business owners and the self-employed to pair with high-deductible health plans in 1996. In 2003, Congress passed a law inspired by that program, and health savings accounts became tax-free and open to anyone with a high-deductible plan. FSAs, on the other hand, date back to the 1970s.

The 'Facebook papers' revealed the company prioritized profit over public safety

A whistleblower came forward with internal documents showing employees warned leadership about the company's role in fueling political unrest and misinformation. Systems like XCheck shielded high-profile users like President Donald Trump from normal content rules, often to avoid PR backlash.

A post-game interview with Sophia Amoruso directly after her 2016 Forbes cover

This article from 2016 is a time capsule of sorts. It includes an interview with the person who coined the term “girlboss,” Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso, that took place just after she appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine. We now know that her company would go on to file for bankruptcy the next year.

Venture capital is a form of funding provided to early-stage companies with high growth potential, typically in exchange for an equity (or ownership) stake

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

Sears sold DIY house kits starting at $600 in its famous catalog from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in roughly 10,000 'Sears and Roebuck houses' being built.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

About 12.5% of US adults experience a phobia in their lifetime, a diagnosis that hinges on the intense fear interfering with daily life and persisting for at least six months.

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-2016.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by more than 1.5 million Muslims each year.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'