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Brian Chesky

Executive

Type
Person
Role
Executive
Updated

The profile

Airbnb co-founder and chief executive. In 2020 he refunded guests over hosts' cancellation terms, then committed $250 million to the hosts, cut about 1,900 jobs and took the company public on December 10.

Identity and role

Brian Chesky co-founded Airbnb with Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk; the company says it began operating in 2008. Airbnb's March 30, 2020 newsroom post introduced him as "Co-founder, CEO and Head of Community." He signed Airbnb's annual report for 2024 on February 13, 2025 as chief executive officer and director. The company is based in San Francisco and its Class A shares trade on Nasdaq as ABNB.

Biography / career arc

Airbnb reached the pandemic as a private company whose revenue depended on travel. Chesky's May 5, 2020 memo to staff put the damage in one line: revenue for the year was "forecasted to be less than half of what we earned in 2019." The company had already raised $2 billion in capital and cut costs.

It went public seven months later. Airbnb's Class A stock has been listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market since December 10, 2020. The three founders kept control through the IPO structure: the exhibit list of the 2024 annual report includes a nominating agreement dated November 27, 2020 and a voting agreement dated December 4, 2020 among Chesky, Gebbia and Blecharczyk.

Pandemic-relief / PPP-EIDL role

Airbnb was a marketplace, not a lender, and hosts were its small businesses. In March 2020 it extended its Extenuating Circumstances policy to COVID-19: guests with reservations made before March 14 and starting on or before May 31 could cancel for a full refund or a travel credit, whatever the host's own cancellation policy said.

On March 30 Chesky wrote to hosts. "I'm sorry that we communicated this decision to guests without consulting you—like partners should," the letter says. It set out the bill:

  • $250 million to hosts: 25% of what they would normally have received under their cancellation policy, for COVID-19 cancellations with check-in between March 14 and May 31, paid by Airbnb from April.
  • A Superhost Relief Fund of grants up to $5,000 that did not need to be repaid. The letter announced $10 million: $1 million donated by employees and $9 million from Chesky, Gebbia and Blecharczyk personally. Airbnb's June 18, 2020 wrap-up put the fund at $17 million after $7 million from investors, and reported $16.8 million awarded to more than 8,700 hosts, 67 percent of them outside the United States.

The same letter claimed a hand in the federal relief law. "We have worked together to secure support for hosts in the US Government's recent COVID-19 Stimulus Bill," Chesky wrote, which "now allows for US hosts to take advantage of many relief measures, including small business grants, small business loans, and unemployment assistance." He thanked hosts for "more than 105,000 calls and emails" to members of Congress. Many hosts were sole proprietors, the kind of business the CARES Act made eligible for PPP and EIDL; the company that had just refunded their guests pointed them to the government's money.

On March 26 Airbnb announced Frontline Stays, with a goal of housing 100,000 healthcare workers, relief workers and first responders, free or subsidized, with Airbnb waiving its fees.

The May 5 memo cut the staff. Of 7,500 employees, "nearly 1,900 teammates will have to leave Airbnb, comprising around 25% of our company." Airbnb paused Transportation and Airbnb Studios and scaled back Hotels and Lux. US employees received 14 weeks of base pay plus one week per year of tenure, 12 months of COBRA health coverage, and a waiver of the one-year equity cliff for recent hires.

Their own relief

The SBA's PPP loan-level data, which run through September 30, 2024, contain no loan to Airbnb, Inc. in California. Several unrelated sole proprietors used "Airbnb" in their borrower names. EIDL data were not checked. No relief loan to Chesky personally appears in the documents cited here.

Chesky has not been charged with any crime. Airbnb's tax dispute with the IRS dates from the IPO month. In December 2020 the IRS proposed an adjustment over the valuation of international intellectual property Airbnb sold to a subsidiary in 2013. In May 2024 it issued a Statutory Notice of Deficiency claiming $1.3 billion in tax plus penalties and interest, which the company says exceeds its reserve by more than $1.0 billion. Airbnb petitioned the U.S. Tax Court in July 2024.

Where they are now (2025–2026)

Chesky remains chief executive and a director. Airbnb reported about 7,300 employees at December 31, 2024, 200 fewer than the 7,500 in the May 2020 memo. It also relied on about 11,000 third-party workers.

Sources

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