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

801–810 of 936 posts

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

#801

Post by asdff »

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.

Even people with jobs tighten their belts in a recession. Your job could be gone tomorrow. Who was taking vacations in 2008, or 2009 for that matter? Maybe if you have scratch, but 4 in 10 American's can't come up with $400 let alone a vacation.

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

#802

Post by beefield »

TylerE wrote: post #695
manigandham wrote: post #685

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The car was invented in the 1800s, and has seen mature competitors in many other countries like Japan. In the current century, Tesla is the auto giant leaving behind all the legacy manufacturers while also branching into energy products. Pivotal products are a better milestone than vague estimates of R&D spending.

That is a...wildly imaginative take. Tesla sales are a fraction of any of the big three in terms of sales or revenue. They sold 192,000 vehicles in the US in 2019. Each of the Big Three sold well over three million. Tesla currently loses $2500 on every vehicle they sell

And for the numerically challenged like me who like to see visualizations. First line is 200k and second is 3M

oo

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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

#803

Post by manigandham »

kharak wrote: post #767
manigandham wrote: post #732

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's a trade-off. Less regulation and more freedom and flexibility at the cost of more social risk and personal responsibility. That's the American way. I was simply stating that truth, not defending it nor saying other realities can't exist. But there is always a trade-off. What part of that is so controversial? Perhaps things have changed and the balance needs to be shifted now. That's a great discussion to ha…

You meant more freedom for those who are in a powerful enough position to take advantage of it. That the other side of the coin is misery for those, who have not the means to exercise these freedoms, that is the problem your comments ignore. There is always theoretical freedom and practical (real) freedom. It is not evident, that the USA offers more freedom to the average person.

It is easier to start and grow a business when there are less regulations around employees. Every employee in America is also free to walk away from their job without any notice. These are both facts and have allowed for vast commercial growth and innovation in America (and in countries with similar setups).

Whether you (can) take advantage is completely orthogonal to the original question of why the USA is "an aberration in this regard", and I would rather not devolve into yet another rehash about fairness and opportunity.

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

#804

Post by asdff »

misun78 wrote: post #599
sulam wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All indications are that we are going to experience a not-so-great depression. Not a recession, an honest-to-goodness depression. 2020 will be down YoY in terms economic output probably across the world, and it wouldn't surprise me if that's not only true for Q2-Q4, but if it also lingers into Q1. My guess is that we will feel like things are growing again this time next year. Some economists are hoping for a better…

The markets seem to vehemently disagree with that entire narrative.

Are we looking at the same markets? We are still below where we were, and a pullback after an initial legdown is expected. Look at the chart from 2008. Leg down, pull back, some time at the top of the roller coaster to look around, then the real big second leg down that just pummels the market.

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

#805

Post by manigandham »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #794
CamperBob2 wrote: post #778

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a reason why risky, innovative startups tend to be formed here in the US, and not in Germany? You guys act like there's no downside to cradle-to-grave nannying of the labor force. There is.

Cost and availability of capital, rather than anything else. Like, if you are a PM at FAANG you can probably get a seed round for any kind of nonsense in SF, but in Germany you would need far more proof and preferably revenue (I don't know Germany that well, but it's similar across much of Western Europe).

Why is there most capital available in America? Why would investors choose to go there if businesses were not easier to start, grow and exit?

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

#806

Post by manigandham »

kharak wrote: post #792
CamperBob2 wrote: post #778

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a reason why risky, innovative startups tend to be formed here in the US, and not in Germany? You guys act like there's no downside to cradle-to-grave nannying of the labor force. There is.

Correlation and causation. If you claim that lesser employee protection causes more innovation, proof it. So far, this is merely a believe.

The proof are the many valuable American companies making world-changing products used globally and constantly copied by many other nations with their own domestic clones.

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

#807

Post by eru »

TylerE wrote: post #768
eru wrote: post #755

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legally speaking, you always have a contract when working for someone. Even if it's implicit and oral only. You even have a contract when you are buying a piece of candy at the newsstand. (At least in the common law world. In eg German law technically you have one contract for the piece of candy, and one contract for each individual coin you are handing over. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstraction_principle_(l…

That is NOT the case in the US. That’s the whole point of this sub-thread. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment

Huh? Literally the first sentence in that article starts with

> At-will employment is a term used in U.S. labor law for contractual relationships [...]

Emphasis on contractual.

Or am I missing something?

A contract that can be dissolved at will is still a contract. Just like you can cancel your Netflix subscription at will, and it's still a valid legal contract.

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

#808

Post by asdff »

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…

In a recession? I think not, even without a pandemic.

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

#809

Post by alexanderhorl »

technicaldonut wrote: post #780
thesimon wrote: post #766

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could Europeans move to the US? Apply to a position and hope to be moved over with a L1 visa?

Few options. Find an employer who is willing to hire you and go through H1B visa lottery, which is the normal work visa. Enroll in a US university, ideally a STEM degree, and use the OPT visa extension to get a foothold in the US. Marry an American? Probably plenty more options, but I'm not an expert in US immigration.

Invest 500k+ in the US to get the investor visa.

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

#810

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

manigandham wrote: post #805
disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #794

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cost and availability of capital, rather than anything else. Like, if you are a PM at FAANG you can probably get a seed round for any kind of nonsense in SF, but in Germany you would need far more proof and preferably revenue (I don't know Germany that well, but it's similar across much of Western Europe).

Why is there most capital available in America? Why would investors choose to go there if businesses were not easier to start, grow and exit?

Because the dollar is the world reserve currency, and lots and lots of large pension funds, university endowments and family offices spend tiny proportions of their assets on VC (as it's expected to be uncorrelated with market returns).

VC's tend to be look a person in the eye and judge his (almost always) character. They don't like travelling, so most of their investments are made in the Bay Area.

Coupled to this, there's much more availability of angel funding because of the previous unicorns (paypal, eBay, Google, Facebook et al) so it's easier to get started.

There are definitely some cultural issues at play also, but fundamentally the reason that the US has such a high proportion of tech giants (which seems to be what you're focusing on) is the low cost of capital caused by the dollar's exorbitant privilege.

Post reply on HN