Airbnb CEO insists 'business will fully recover' as he lays off 25% of employees
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.
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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," continued Chesky's memo.
In April, Bloomberg Businessweek reported a March interview with Chesky where the CEO described the pains of running his company during a pandemic.
SEE ALSO: Reminder: Airbnb lets hosts put cameras inside your rental
"I'm not sure if there's a more difficult thing that a CEO of a travel company could ever do than go through this," Chesky told the publication. "You feel like you were T-boned, or like a torpedo has just hit the ship."
It's unclear what similes Chesky would use to describe the experience of losing one's job in a mass layoff. We imagine, however, that there are several newly unemployed copywriters who could help him come up with a few.
