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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

#531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirBnb was doing about $4 billion in revenue per year before the crash with 7,500 employees. That's about $500k revenue per employee, which is on the high end of tech industry standards. How is that bloated?

Is that $4 billion in bookings or only their take? If it's the latter, then their "real" revenue per employee is much lower. For marketplaces it seems disingenuous when they use the top-line number for revenue given that they can only increase their rake so much.

Airbnb booking is north of $40bn

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

#532
post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Zurich does definitely not top out at 100k. Depending on your negotiation skills, you'll start at about 120-140k in the big tech companies, around 120k in data science consulting, 120k for data science in banks, 80-100k at the smaller software companies.

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

#533

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I first misread it as "14 months" (as usually you count in months), but it was way out of bounds.

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?

From what I understand, severance is also often offered as incentive to sign some kind of exit/termination agreement.

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

#534

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

We have vaccines for those.

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

#535
post #512

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I often buy week or two weeks before

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

#536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The crazyness of the best country in the world. "I rolled the dice!". This looks insane to any non-American.

Unfortunately not to some here in Switzerland. The average adult here pays around $350 USD/month for just their coverage, according to official statistics. The total cost for a family might end up less than $1400, but not by much. Edited to add source: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/society/new-method_health-insur...

A COBRA plan can be about ~$500-1000 for an individual in the US. A family can reach $2000-5000/month. Then, you are still sometimes left holding the bag for deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance and annual out-of-pocket maximums. Old but not way off: [1]. Some folks are better off on the private markets, especially exchanges.

[1] https://www.bankrate.com/finance/insurance/cobra-health-insu...

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

#537
post #521
post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't worry, it will extend out.. we aren't going to be out of this mess for 12-18 months.... the US especially.

Well here's to hoping that we ARE out of this mess even if it costs me my airbnb deposit.

That's unlikely at this point. Enough people ignored social distancing and still are not wearing masks that the powder keg is about to explode. There also will be a second wave.

The social distancing thing is subtle, it only takes a few outside of the bubble interactions to break the whole thing. Given the 2+ week lag we are still seeing the initial wave propagate and has not yet peaked.

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

#539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 own a factory. Your employees don't. There's a power imbalance in the employment relationship. Most people (who don't own things like factories) need a regular, predictable, stable income to survive, and finding new employment is not always easy. Therefore, people in most developed countries have agreed that by taking on an employee, it is contingent on the employer to provide some guarantee of stability. This is…

> even the workers seem to value the rights of the employers far above the rights of the employees. I'm not sure why this is.

To paraphrase a famous quote, in the USA the workers don't see themselves as workers, but as temporarily down-on-their-luck owners.

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

#540
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.

If you've never been given that then this is content free.
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