Airbnb, valued at $35 Billion, can’t afford 1,900 employees

I’m sure you can understand.  The company had only $3.6 billion in revenue in 2018.  The company is only valued at $35 billion.  Their CEO, Brian Chesky, is only worth $4.1 billion.  With numbers like those, it’s hard to afford workers.

So Airbnb is cutting a quarter of their work force.

In a move that is sure to warm his  employees, and ex-employees hearts, Chesky he wrote them “To those leaving Airbnb, I am truly sorry.  Please know this is not your fault.”

It isn’t their fault they’re leaving. Touching.  A great way for a CEO to own his actions.  I’m sure that will really help them in this time of need.

Especially when you consider that paying each of those 1,900 employees $50,000 per year would cost $95 million a year, you can see why, with their weak income and fresh $1 billion fund raising round, Airbnb has a hard time keeping those employees on.

To be fair, they are doing 14 weeks of severance, plus giving the departerd workers their company-issued laptops.

And Chesky has, “a deep feeling of love for all of you.” That has to be worth something.

But in the world of Silicon Valley, firing people without taking responsibility is a “perfect example of  how to lead in crisis.”