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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

#121
post #30
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah that's generous by most standards.

By most American standards

Where do you live that companies will give 14 weeks' severance pay to people who've only been there a year?

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

#122

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?

Not really. RSU’s don’t have a “notional initial value” for public companies; if you get them, you pay tax on the number of RSU’s you got times the stock price at the time you get them. Your vesting schedule will just say, “X units of ABC on 5/1/20” with no dollar figure.

Brokerages will typically set things up so you can automatically sell enough shares to cover your tax liability as soon as they vest.

Typically you have to amend your cost basis on your tax return for this to actually work, for some stupid bureaucratic reason. Probably a conspiracy to make people who get equity compensation buy the more expensive version of TurboTax.

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

#123
post #94

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 was under the impression they were pivoting rather hard into events, to diversify their income streams?

I don't understand how AirBnB can pivot to events - the locations managed through their site tend to be quite small... Can you clarify?

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

#124

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…

Airbnb is dead, long live Airbnb. Somebody else will take their place but I'm wondering how publicly traded companies like Booking and Expedia are going to handle this crisis.

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

#126
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

> I’m at the mercy of the doctors and hospitals in this foreign land

That’s where you can carefully pick the foreign land whose medical system you trust more than your own home country

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

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you not want optionality? Optionality always has carries an intrinsic positive value.

1 RSU is worth 1x the stock price. 1 option is worth the delta between the stock price and the strike price, meaning 1 RSU is always worth more than one option. Usually you get more options than you would RSU’s to compensate for this, but there’s still a risk/reward tradeoff. I have had stock options that ended up worth $0 because they were underwater. RSU’s would have been worth $non-zero. The fact that RSU’s retain…

The other relevant point, in favor of RSUs is they usually have a double trigger for settling. One is service time, and the second is an equity event. Which is nice because you basically earn the RSU based on service time, but it doesn't truly settle until there's a liquid market available to dispose enough shares to cover tax liabilities.

This is why you'll see recently IPO'd companies reporting large one-time equity compensation numbers.

edit: s/vesting/settling. I believe "settling" is the term actually used.

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

#128

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…

Is there any early data on current AirBnB price trends in key markets?

I was looking at some listings in Amsterdam and the prices seem really cheap for a weekend at the end of this month.

The inventory seems fairly limited, however. Perhaps hosts are already pulling their properties off the short-term market.

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

#129
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think I'm missing something here.. but how can one negotiate severance pay for termination. I was under the assumption that companies offered severance pay as a means to save face.. and this is not part of the offer negotiation.

Everything is negotiable. You can negotiate a private office with a ocean view if you're valuable enough. This won't work for rank and file employees obviously.

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

#130
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany, health care isn't even a question, three months notice is the norm. Plus some additional severance payments. Don't take the number for granted, but I think IIRC it is something like one month per year. Not sure anymore, so. EDIT: Read days instead of weeks regarding AirBnB severance pay. That changes a lot, and it makes it a more than generous package by anyone's standards.

> Germany, health care isn't even a question How does this mean? As in, it's provided by the state and therefore not a part of a severance package or as in German employers don't provide any? I'm not sure how to take this. If it's that the state provides it, then arguably AirBnb is being even more generous or possibly it shouldn't be included in the comparison. It's about what AirBnb is providing when discussing thei…

Health care is public, so worst case it is covered by the state. Also, just realized that AirBnB offer 14 weeks of pay. Initially read it as days... My fault. Being weeks, it really is a great package, health care or not. And even more so for the US with health care. All I can say is Kudos AirBnB.
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