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Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

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Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are abnormal circumstances. I wonder if it is possible to delay the layoffs by cutting salaries - maybe instead of firing 5 out of 10 equally paid people, they can cut the salaries of all 10 people by half (or something like that). Any which way these are hard decisions :(

Cutting salaries in half guarantees they lose all the top performers, and probably more than half, instead of the 5 they pick. I don't believe that is the goal.

Lyft cut salaries in addition to layoffs

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

~~Yes, because it's pretty shitty for Europe.~~ I didn't understand well, sorry.

"In many countries, the severance pay is a lump sum that increases with the employee’s tenure in the company and their wage level. In the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain, employees with service of up to one year are entitled to severance pay (in most cases one month’s pay), while in Luxembourg employees have to have a minimum of five years within the organisati…

Do the employees have to work during these 3 months? It is not clear from the article. If not, it is quite "competitive".

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#104
post #44

Separated employees will receive 14 weeks of pay, and one more week for each year served at the company (rounding partial years up). The firm is also dropping its one-year equity cliff so that employees who are laid off with under 12 months of tenure can buy their vested options; Airbnb will also provide 12 months of health insurance through COBRA in the United States, and health care coverage through 2020 in the res…

That's why when a yet another aspiring startup wants to hire me, I ask for a high sign on bonus as an insurance, monthly vesting cycle, at least 200k in base pay and high severance upon termination. Never been given that, but I don't regret: looking back, all those "just 1 year till IPO" companies are underwater.

Are you an engineer or a professional athlete?

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you started working at Boeing exactly a year ago and were leaving today, would you rather have been granted RSUs at a notional initial value of $371.60/sh or been granted options at a strike price of $371.60/sh?

Wouldn't you pay income tax on the RSUs based on the notional initial value, and only pay tax on the options if you exercised them?

(Under US law,) You pay income tax on RSUs only when they are both vested and released. (These typically happen on the same day, but in the future, not on the grant date.)

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#106
post #48

My initial reaction is "wow, nice severance package!" My secondary reaction is they must think things are going to be very bad for a very long time for this kind of payout to make sense financially.

Depending on the role not everyone is going to have an easy time finding another job. Technical roles sure but areas like marketing and recruiting no.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"In many countries, the severance pay is a lump sum that increases with the employee’s tenure in the company and their wage level. In the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain, employees with service of up to one year are entitled to severance pay (in most cases one month’s pay), while in Luxembourg employees have to have a minimum of five years within the organisati…

yup, it's better then what you would get in most of the europe. does US have an unemployment plan. how long and how much do you get ?

> does US have an unemployment plan. how long and how much do you get ?

Each state has unemployment insurance. In most cases, the benefit amount per week/month puts you around the federal poverty line for an individual. No state has a severance requirement (although some do require your PTO balance be paid out as wages).

https://fileunemployment.org/unemployment-benefits/unemploym...

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#108
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m surprised they were still handing out options - don’t most later stage startups switch to RSUs? I’d hate to have to decide whether to exercise today, cliff or no cliff.

I haven't seen RSUs outside of publicly traded companies.

[deleted]

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#109
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought RSUs are only given by public companies. Anyway, they would be crazy not to exercise.

Hopefully they have cash to cover the exercise and the taxes! Tough choice to make right when you just lost your job. The tax bill could be tens of thousands of dollars or more.

Yeah it's going to be a hard decision to make for a lot of these people, especially given some of the bad press that these kind of gig factories have been enduring.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#110
post #68

I'm shocked that 2020 revenues will come in only 50% below 2019. I don't think anyone will be travelling for the bulk of this year, especially with the looming threat of potentially getting sick in a foreign country or away from your home. It will take 5+ years for them to get back the same level of inventory/hosts/customers as they had in 2019. Many hosts will foreclose on their rented properties during 2020 or conv…

> I'm shocked that 2020 revenues will come in only 50% below 2019 This is a fair point, but it also suggests strongly that a significant minority of their business is month to month rentals, possibly in place of leasing. And hey, being frank, I wouldn't mind considering going somewhere else for a few months now that I can work remotely for a while.

I would too, but the thing holding me back is if the shit hits the fan, and I need to do something like buy a freezer to store extra food, I can't conveniently do that in an Airbnb. And if I somehow get sick, I'm at the mercy of the doctors and hospitals in this foreign land. I'd rather be in my own home with the doctors and hospital system that I'm familiar with. I think more than 50% of people feel this way, which is why I think a 50% cut in revenue is too little, I would say its more like an 80-85% cut in revenue. This is catastrophic for Airbnb.
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