Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce • Hacker News Board

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

#511

Post by filoleg » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:37 PM UTC

three_seagrass wrote: post #461

filoleg wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>which in turn are shutting down and shrinking their spending on B2B services You are assuming the scenario where consumer division was making a lot of money. For a lot of very successful B2B businesses, their consumer division exists mostly to make small gains, while acting primarily as a getaway or advertisement for their B2B offerings. You would be surprised to find out how much more revenue (and profits) a compan…

Microsoft isn't FANG, and even then, who do you think Microsoft's B2B customers serve and get their revenue from? Even those that are still B2B eventually need cash flows from consumer businesses. Hence the statement that we won't fully realize the losses until Q3. Less spending by consumers depresses all businesses, some sooner than others, but FANGs are definitely hurting.

>who do you think Microsoft's B2B customers serve and get their revenue from

The cool thing about B2B, as opposed to consumer offerings, is that the contracts on those are usually multi-year. Just because the client enterprise suddenly receives less revenue from customers, it doesn't mean that they would be able to stop paying MSFT until the contract term is over. Unless this current lockdown situation lasts multiple years, it shouldn't affect things significantly.

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

#512

Post by xur17 » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:37 PM UTC

karthikb wrote: post #506

toshk wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe but Im guessing there will be 1 to 3 months flights are open in summer and there will be lots of crazy partying and spending. (in Europe)

I'm not so sure. Airlines have sent huge numbers of their aircraft to the desert for storage, so quickly spinning up flight supply and then spinning that back down will be expensive.

I find it unlikely this will be the limiting factor in flight demand. Flights are typically booked a few weeks in advance, which is adequate time to go retrieve the planes from the desert and inspect them to insure they are airworthy.

It's not like people are going to be showing up at airports overnight buying flights for the same day.

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

#513

Post by jklein11 » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:39 PM UTC

verst wrote: post #459

xenospn wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really strange to me that companies in the US can just determine how much severance they're "willing" to pay. Why is it even up to them?

I am not sure why you are being downvoted. It seems that much of HN has very little knowledge of (and interest in) business operations and employment law in other countries. I see your question as genuinely inquiring about this stark difference from what is common in Europe and other countries.

I didn't downvote the OP but I am picking up a tone of indignation that I don't quite understand. I find this pretty interesting.

Here is my take on the situation:

Let's say I own a widget factory and you are highly skilled at turning paper clips into widgets. We agree on a price for your time and I hire you to start making widgets. Things are going gangbusters, you produce a ton of widgets and I pay you for the time you spend working for me. All of a sudden people stop buying widgets. I no longer need your services so I have you stop coming in and stop paying you for your time.

I don't understand why I should be obligated to pay you for services you didn't provide. It's not like I can go to my customers and ask them to pay me for widgets I didn't sell them.

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

#514

Post by cletus » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:39 PM UTC

I'm kind of surprised it took this long, honestly. It does suck if you're one of those affected so you have my sympathy if you're one of those. On the bright side, at least by US standards, this does seem to be pretty generous.

That aside, if this whole pandemic manages to kill or mortally wound AirBnB, I won't be upset. What AirBnB does to cities, neighbourhoods and the long-term rental market is atrocious and it needs to be reined in.

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

#515

Post by bcassedy » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:40 PM UTC

tinyhouse wrote: post #198

mason55 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If they don't have the money they can take a loan (maybe hard without a job) or try to raise it (lots of people will be happy to invest). Let's not forget that many of these individuals have been making top dollar. Airbnb is known to be very competitive, even with FANNG level salaries. I don't see it as a tough choice. Airbnb will IPO, it's just a question of when. It's a safe investment to make. This is a company op…

Their 2020 revenue will likely be less than a quarter of that. And 2021 might not be much better. They have a struggle ahead.

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

#516

Post by rhizome » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:41 PM UTC

MereInterest wrote: post #363

ghaff wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Larger companies tend to prefer weekly/biweekly as you don't get that month-length variance. On the other hand, many employees don't like it as much because their biggest bills tend to be paid monthly so they'd prefer their paychecks to be aligned.

I've had it both ways, and prefer it biweekly. That way, I can build my budget based on 2 pay periods, and have the occasional 3rd paycheck in a month go immediately toward savings.

Biweekly is easier for the employee, semimonthly is easier for bookkeeping.

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

#517

Post by ridv » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:43 PM UTC

gonehome wrote: post #134

philwelch wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You don't necessarily get taxable income from RSUs [edit: when they're granted] if they're structured in a 'Facebook Style' RSU which has an expiration if the company does not IPO within a certain time frame. As long as there's a real risk of loss you can avoid the taxable income and private companies with high valuations will do this to help employees avoid the bad tax situation on an illiquid asset (without need to…

This is one thing I've struggled to understand.

Scenario A: RSUs have an expiration date. RSUs you own expire before the company hits a liquidity event.

Scenario B: RSUs do not have an expiration date but the company goes bankrupt/dissolves and never hits a liquidity event.

Is one of these scenarios taxable and the other one not? One of my biggest fears about joining a startup (pre covid) was scenario A happening.

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

#518

Post by Panini_Jones » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:47 PM UTC

garyclarke27 wrote: post #456

Was a mystery to me why they waited so long to do an IPO. They must be kicking themselves now, will be a long long time, before they can match the kind of cash they could have raised anytime in 2019.

I wonder what the previous CFO is thinking right now. I believe he tried to take it to an IPO earlier but Chesky disagreed with him. This is rumor of course.

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

#519

Post by rhizome » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:47 PM UTC

jdminhbg wrote: post #433

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pandemic doesn't end simply because quarantine is lifted. People will seriously question flying or passing through airports, especially as case counts are getting worse while the restrictions are being lifted.

But the pandemic ends eventually, one way or another. The question is what happens at that point: bacchanal or hermitage.

Polio didn't stop. Smallpox is not extinct.

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

#520

Post by 2019-nCoV » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:48 PM UTC

zxcmx wrote: post #498

2019-nCoV wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd be in the top 5% of software engineers in Europe if you pull >$55k after tax ANNUALLY. Let alone as a parting gift.

I think European dev market is a lot more complex than that; if you work in Zurich or London, do contracting, work for a major bank etc then the market is way different for you than if you do (say) PHP as an employee of a non-software company in Berlin. The baseline is decently middle class with a solid safety net but there's a lot more room at the top than you're making out IMHO. As always, to make cash as a "workin…

Zurich and London top out at $100k, any more and we're talking managerial responsibilities. Compared to SF or SEA they are only paying ~25% market rate.

The safety net argument has no legs. Australia and Canada both have social benefits that far exceed the majority of EU nations, yet pre-pandemic there was no shortage of $150k+ dev roles.