Airbnb Co-Founder Joe Gebbia Steps Back From Full-Time Role

(Bloomberg) -- Airbnb Inc. Co-Founder Joe Gebbia is stepping back from a full-time role at the home-sharing company to spend more time with his family and explore new projects.

Gebbia, 40, said his first new venture “is a startup called parenthood, at which I’ll be taking on the role of Dad.” Other projects involve a “complementary product to Airbnb, documentary filmmaking, and various philanthropic initiatives,” Gebbia said in a public letter.

Airbnb was founded in 2008 by Gebbia, who is chief product officer, Brian Chesky, chief executive officer, and Nathan Blecharczyk, chief strategy officer. 

Gebbia helped the company grow from a scrappy San Francisco start-up navigating regulatory challenges across the country and around the world to a publicly traded company that defined a new way to travel. Airbnb now is present in more than 200 countries and regions and has more than 4 million hosts who have opened their homes. That trajectory has made Gebbia a billionaire, giving him a net worth of $7.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires index.

The pandemic was a tumultuous time for Airbnb, wiping out 80% of its business in eight weeks and threatening to derail its initial public offering. But the company emerged a winner, benefiting as employees took advantage of remote work opportunities and fled to coastal and mountain retreats for long-term stays. Airbnb and other travel companies have been banking on this summer travel season to be a spending bonanza as travelers hit the road en masse following the lifting of Covid restrictions. Gebbia said he’s leaving the company on a high note, and “the whole operation is in the best hands it’s ever been in.”

Gebbia will continue to serve on Airbnb’s board as well as at Airbnb.org, the comapny’s non-profit arm, and will take on a new role as advisor. 

(Updates with background from third paragraph.)

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