Airbnb Co-founder Joe Gebbia steps down after ’14 wild years’

New Delhi: Online hospitality major Airbnb Co-founder Joe Gebbia has announced to step down after 14 “wild years” and is set to open a new chapter.

Gebbia, who formed Airbnb more than a decade ago, wrote a letter to employees, saying he will remain on the board of directors but transition to an advisory role, supporting co-founders Brian Chesky and Nathan Blecharczyk on “the roadmap, future concepts, and creative culture.”

Gebbia 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.

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.