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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

#271

Post by winslow »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #199
ryneandal wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the company said that 1,900 employees will be laid off, or 25.3% of its 7,500 workers Thought I misread that the first time through. What did those 7,500 do?

Ugh, to be honest I get tired whenever I see the "Why did company XYZ need so many people, they're just a website!"-type comments. While it is definitely possible AirBnB was bloated, it's not hard for me to imagine at all what all these people did. AirBnB is a relatively high-touch business, so I imagine a huge number of those people were in customer support/customer relations, both for travelers and for property own…

Yeah typically happens with each layoff. It's nice that when times are good companies are able to spread the workload more. It helps increase code quality and quality of life for everyone working there. Also part of current employee numbers is hiring to keep up with projected growth etc.

If everything was so easy to build we should all quit our jobs and do our own single developer startup.

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

#272

Post by truthwhisperer »

actuator wrote: post #96
lucasmullens wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From some other comments it sounds like they're RSUs, not options.

Why do you need to buy the RSUs then? Don't you already get them once they vest.

does it matter? You want to make the world a better place right? Or is the world defined as a 50^2 place somewhere in a too expensive part of the world .. hmm

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

#273

Post by Apocryphon »

misiti3780 wrote: post #256
hyperbovine wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't know what fraction of AirBnb's business still consists of indies renting out rooms to vacationers for short-term stays. But that market is simply hosed for the foreseeable future, if not forever. Complete lack of enthusiasm from guests and hosts alike. Driving strangers around in your car or having them stay in your home is never again going to seem like the great idea that it once did.

once we have a vaccine, or very effective therapeutics, or good antibodies testing things should go back to normal. that may not be for years though.

Going back to the root comment, it's questionable if Airbnb will make it to that new time of normal.

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

#274

Post by [deleted] »

darkerside wrote: post #268
keiferski wrote: post #10

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…

Allowing former new employees to buy shares in a private company essentially at cost doesn't seem terribly generous to me.

[deleted]

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

#275

Post by beagle3 »

jlbnjmn wrote: post #118
nsxwolf wrote: 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.

Good point. If they're wanting to part ways with 25% of the workforce now, covering 3 months of full salary and 12 months of expensive healthcare, they must be expecting fundamental market shifts. Also, the debt they took on may have been partly to cover these lavish severance packages while also extending the runway. And yes, this is extremely lavish. Paying severance that appears roughly equal to the median annual…

It is generous by US standards, but it's just nice for many other western countries, where the standard is a few months of salary, or e.g. one month salary for each year worked (that is, if you had worked for the company for 5 years, you get at least 5 months salary on termination -- Israel mandates that one by law, for example, and NOT paying it is considered a criminal violation performed by the employer)

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

#276

Post by senderista »

keiferski wrote: post #10

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…

“We had to let you go to pay for your severance package.”

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

#277

Post by pedrosorio »

justaguyhere wrote: post #197
pedrosorio wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes, during normal times. But these are not normal times - like, who is hiring now? If I were a top performer, I'd take a salary cut if it means saving my colleague's job. I get what you are saying though. They are a business and I guess they're doing what is best for their business. The severance package is generous (relatively speaking), so there's at least that. Edit : I guess I didn't word this properly. I was sa…

> But these are not normal times - like, who is hiring now?

Facebook and Amazon, just to mention a couple of giants that would probably love if every company doing layoffs right now would instead halve their top performers' compensation.

This is not as relevant in the Airbnb case since the expected value of RSUs went down so much that this is effectively the case even with no salary cuts.

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

#278

Post by filoleg »

nopriorarrests wrote: post #16

>According to Chesky’s missive, Airbnb anticipates its 2020 revenue coming in under 50% of 2019’s total Very optimistic. They should be happy to get around 25% of 2019 totals.

Once places open up in a few months, I expect a massive short-term surge in demand for AirBnB lodging.

I know for a fact that by the end of summer (assuming places open up like planned), I will start traveling again. And I will be doing no less traveling this year than I would any other year. Of course, that won't be the case for everyone, but keeping that in mind, the 50% revenue drop seems like a pretty reasonable expectation.

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

#279

Post by llukas »

KoftaBob wrote: post #168
llukas wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you realize that you're comparing severance package of one of top US companies to EU standard.

the original comment was specifically saying AirBnBs severance isn’t impressive compared to europe, which is not true.

AirBnBs severance package is impressive compared to rest of US.

Twisting words a bit: most of Europe doesn't get much worse severance than top US corporation. That's impressive.

IT in Europe also gets better severance etc.

Also, not checked in other countries, but in Poland for example: regular salaried employees get 3 month notice if tenure is 3+ years.

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

#280

Post by taurath »

nojito wrote: post #263
ifeedmartians wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

seriously wtf. 1900 people lost their jobs and you think that's "Good". Check yourself

airbnb has devastated large swaths of America.

Devastated housing costs which were on a decade long uptrend before AirBNB existed you mean? Or because its capitalized rentals to a higher extent than the normal purchase/rental market could do?
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