Airbnb laying off 1,900 employees due to travel decline

Airbnb says it is laying off 25% of its workforce as it confronts a steep decline in global travel due to the new coronavirus pandemic.

It’s a serious setback for the 12-year-old home-sharing company, which just a few months ago was valued at $31 billion and planning a hotly anticipated IPO.

Airbnb lists around seven million properties on its web site.

In a letter to employees, CEO Brian Chesky said the San Francisco-based company is letting 1,900 of its 7,500 workers go and cutting businesses that don’t directly support home-sharing.

Those include its investments in hotels, air transportation and movie production.

“We are collectively living through the most harrowing crisis of our lifetime,” Chesky wrote.

Chesky said Airbnb expects its revenue to drop by more than half this year.

The company is privately held, so it doesn’t release financial figures.

But AirDNA, a company that monitors bookings and rental fees for Airbnb hosts and others, said new US bookings fell by 53% between February 3 and April 13.

Some places, like the United Kingdom, have restricted non-essential travel or are only letting medical workers book stays with Airbnb.

In early April, Airbnb agreed to pay hosts $250 million to make up for some of the money lost to cancellations.

Airbnb is now letting people who were planning to check-in by June 15 to cancel without penalties.

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