Airbnb Co-Founder Joe Gebbia Steps Down
Online hospitality major Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia has announced that he will be stepping down after 14 years at the company.
Joe described his time at the company as '14 wild years', in a letter to employees, while stating that he will remain on the board of directors and transition to an advisory role, supporting co-founders Brian Chesky and Nathan Blecharczyk on "the roadmap, future concepts, and creative culture."
Joe was earlier the chairman of Samara, Airbnb's design studio, and of Airbnb.org, the company's nonprofit foundation.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk congratulated him with a tweet on Friday: "Congrats on an incredible company with Airbnb, now for Book 2!"
The Airbnb Co-founder said that the primary reason for this transition is that "this is the only company I've ever helped build, and my brain is bursting with more ideas to bring to the world".
"My first new venture is a startup called parenthood, at which I'll be taking on the role of Dad. The others involve a complementary product to Airbnb, documentary filmmaking, and various philanthropic initiatives. I'm looking forward to sharing more about these with you soon," he added.
He said that Airbnb emerged from an unprecedented setback to the travel industry "with the best first quarter since we incorporated Airbnb fourteen years ago".
"Thanks to the four million of you who've chosen to host, defying convention to form the largest network of hospitality on the planet. You've welcomed the world into your guest bedrooms, yurts, villas, caves, barns, mansions, tugboats, Airstreams, and that one giant potato house in Idaho," he wrote.
"The data proves that the Golden Rule is actually human nature, which is perhaps why some version of it can be found in almost every culture," he added.
As of November 2021, Joe's net worth was estimated to be $11.4 billion.
