Airbnb CEO Wealth Soars to $11.4 Billion as Stock Doubles in IPO

Airbnb Inc.’s co-founder Brian Chesky had an idea what the company’s first stock-trading day would look like -- and this wasn’t it.

He couldn’t be in New York to ring the Nasdaq Stock Exchange’s opening bell. There’d be no suits, no Champagne and no victorious embraces with co-founders Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk.

But he probably didn’t anticipate that the company’s share price would more than double as it began trading Thursday -- cementing Airbnb’s place as one of the world’s biggest travel businesses and propelling the value of his own stake to about $11.4 billion.

Instead, the ...