Joe Gebbia, who co-founded Airbnb 14 years ago, steps down; will remain on board

Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia has announced his resignation and plans to start a new chapter.

New Delhi: After 14 "crazy years," Airbnb co-founder and leading figure in the online hotel industry, Joe Gebbia, has announced his resignation and plans to start a new chapter. In a letter to staff members, Gebbia, who founded Airbnb more than ten years ago, announced that he would continue to serve on the board of directors but would switch to an advisory position to help co-founders Brian Chesky and Nathan Blecharczyk with "the roadmap, future concepts, and creative culture."

Prior to this, Gebbia served as the head of both Airbnb.org, the company's charitable foundation, and Samara, Airbnb's design studio. In a tweet on Friday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered his congratulations, writing, "Congrats on an amazing 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.

Incredibly, after a billion-plus guest arrivals, "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.

Gebbia said that every dollar you donate to Airbnb.org, he will match so we can house twice as many people in need. As of November 2021, Gebbia’s net worth was estimated to be $11.4 billion. 

--With IANS inputs.