Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

331–340 of 936 posts

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

#331

Post by tootie »

ping_pong wrote: post #53

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 have no idea how big this market is, but I know some people who have fled COVID cities like NYC to spend 2 months in an Airbnb house with a backyard.

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

#332

Post by jfk13 »

blackrock wrote: post #261
schkkd wrote: 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.

What’s your batting average?

"Never been given that".

Zero, apparently.

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

#333

Post by scarface74 »

arcticbull wrote: post #320
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…

Sounds amazing, I wish someone would lay me off like that, damn. Four months PTO with healthcare?!

"Airbnb will also provide 12 months of health insurance through COBRA"

That just means that it is available to you -- not that they are going to subsidize it.

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

#334

Post by projektfu »

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…

It's a high-touch business but more and more that touch is someone to tell a traveler that the scammer that took their money gets to keep their money.

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

#335

Post by xenospn »

lostmsu wrote: post #296
chadlavi wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At first I misread this as 14 days and was wondering why everyone is calling this such a "lavish" severance. Now I get it.

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?

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

#336

Post by remus »

jdminhbg wrote: post #309
ashtonkem wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally suspect that travel related industries will be one of the last to recover, both due to consumer reticence and due to lower levels of disposable income during the recovery.

> lower levels of disposable income during the recovery. There's also going to be a lot of pent-up demand from people who didn't lose jobs and had no outlet for leisure spending during the quarantine. I'm not sure which will win out.

On the other hand we're almost certainly heading for a recession so (you would hope) there would be some reticence to over spend on luxuries like holidays.

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

#337

Post by niij »

xenospn wrote: post #335
lostmsu wrote: post #296

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?

Because it's coming out of their pockets.

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

#338

Post by rb808 »

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…

As a European, that isn't great. (options excepted). Usually I thought you get 14 weeks plus a month for every year of service, not a week.

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

#339

Post by ChuckMcM »

arcticbull wrote: post #320
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…

Sounds amazing, I wish someone would lay me off like that, damn. Four months PTO with healthcare?!

You actually have to pay the full premium for healthcare. But still, assuming a months pay covers at least 3 months of Cobra coverage, that is 3 months PTO to get your head straight.

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

#340

Post by IkmoIkmo »

filoleg wrote: post #278
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…

There's no vaccine yet. Given how many people are asymptomatic, I expect the virus to create a new wave in a business as usual scenario. I think people will be quite cautious, particularly in international travel. Local bookings should probably be higher than usual, foreign visits much lower than normal, but it's mostly foreign visits which drives airbnb worldwide as far as I know.

Second I really wonder if things will open up as per usual. There's a lot of talk that we'll see things stay restrictive for the rest of the year. Many countries for example mandate face masks in public transport. Some countries mandate offices to fill to at most 50% capacity, mandating 6 feet of distance. There's many countries which expect that to be the norm once things like restaurants open again as well. Basically the current supermarket model: you can shop, but only 50% of the normal occupancy. We'll likely see this for busses, for stores, offices, museums, parks etc. I don't expect a massive short-term surge myself.

Post reply on HN