Topline
Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia announced Thursday he would step down from his full-time role at the home rental giant he helped create in order to focus on being a father and on new projects at the company that made him a billionaire.
Joe Gebbia speaks at the 2017 Concordia Annual Summit at Grand Hyatt New York on September 19, 2017, … [+]
Key Facts
Gebbia is stepping back from his day-to-day role at Airbnb in order to join “a startup called parenthood,” where he’ll be “taking on the role of Dad,” he quipped in a letter to employees Thursday that was posted by the company.
He will continue serving on the Airbnb board of directors as well as the company’s nonprofit leg, Airbnb.org, and will transition to a new advisory role for his cofounders, Brian Chesky and Nathan Blecharczy, whom Gebbia referred to in his letter as “two of the closest friends in the world.”
Gebbia said along with spending more time with his family, he’ll focus on a new “complementary product” to Airbnb–although he did not share details–as well as documentary filmmaking and new philanthropic projects.
Big Number
$7.3 billion. That’s how much Gebbia is worth, according to Forbes’ estimates. Leading up to his departure, Gebbia sold off 5 million of his shares, worth $713 million, or about 8% of his stake in the company, Forbes reported last month.
Key Background
In 2008, Gebbia, Chesky and Blecharczy founded Airbnb, a peer-to-peer house rental company that has transformed hospitality and travel. In his letter Thursday, Gebbia wrote that Airbnb has hosted more than 1 billion guests on the platform. While Airbnb was battered by dropping travel during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic (and even laid off a quarter of their workforce), in May the company announced that during the first quarter of the year bookings surpassed prepandemic levels and eclipsed 100 million for the first time in the company’s history.
Further Reading
These Airbnb Founders Have Sold More Than $1 Billion Worth Of Stock Combined In The Past Year (Forbes)
Unique High School Graduation Gift: Shares Of Airbnb, From One Of Its Billionaire Cofounders (Forbes)
Airbnb Cofounder Joe Gebbia Joins San Antonio Spurs As Strategic Partner (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/07/21/airbnb-cofounder-joe-gebbia-steps-down-from-full-time-role/