'Business will fully recover': Airbnb lays off 25 percent of employees
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The future is bright for Airbnb. The medium term, however, perhaps not so much. That's according to CEO Brian Chesky, who on Tuesday laid off 25 percent of the company following a downturn in rental bookings brought about by the coronavirus. First reported by the Information, with hard numbers confirmed by CNBC, the layoffs mark an incredible turn for a company that as recently as last fall was planning to go public this year. The pandemic, and its devastating effects on the travel industry, changed all that. Instead of a long-awaited IPO, Airbnb will lay off approximately 1,900 employees. In a company memo reported by Protocol, Chesky acknowledged the severity of the situation but promised that Airbnb will be back to its darling status, if not soon, then at least eventually. "We are collectively living through the most harrowing crisis of our lifetime, and as it began to unfold, global travel came to a standstill," wrote Chesky. "While we know Airbnb's business will fully recover, the changes it will undergo are not temporary or short-lived." Chesky, in other words, is still convinced his company's business model is a profitable one - just not right now. We're sure that's comforting news to everyone receiving a digital pink slip. "[We] need to make more fundamental changes to Airbnb by reducing the size of our workforce around a more focused business strategy,"...
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