Airbnb went from a likely 2020 public debut to laying off 1,900 people and cutting projects. Here's how we got here.

The coronavirus pandemic has stalled Airbnb's big 2020 plans, including a potential initial public offering. As business dropped off dramatically, the travel giant cut 25% of its workforce in May.Now, Airbnb is betting on longer-term stays and online experiences as it navigates the pandemic. You can read our stories by subscribing to BI Prime.Airbnb had been a hotly-anticipated candidate for a 2020 public market debut before the coronavirus pandemic grounded travelers. The company, once valued at roughly $31 billion by private investors, is among numerous high-profile "sharing economy" companies built during the past decade whose businesses are now being devastated by the crisis.Now, it's slashed jobs and the company is reimagining itself as a platform for longer-term stays as opposed to just quick vacations. Here's everything we know about what's going on inside Airbnb:Layoffs and other workforce changesAirbnb is cutting 25% of staff — 1,900 jobs — after its business has been slammed by the coronavirus crisisRead the full memo Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky just sent to staff announcing 1,900 job cuts. It lays out severance details and which teams are getting hit the hardest.A memo from Airbnb's CEO announcing huge staff cuts is a case study in how leaders can conduct layoffs in a compassionate wayAirbnb won praise for how it laid off employees but the generous benefits weren't extended to contractors, reinforcing Silicon Valley's two-tier workforce cultureAirbnb laid off most of its contractors and postponed summer internships during a Zoom Q&A with the company's CEOAirbnb has postponed new grad hires until August 2021 but is giving them 10% of their offered salary right now — even if they turn down the jobNew business focusesAirbnb says it's going to focus on longer-term stays, but analysts worry its short-term rental roots will make it hard to grab a piece of the $18 billion marketAirbnb is now offering online experiences via Zoom video calls. I tried 2 of them and would readily sign up for more — here's whyAirbnb and RXR Realty are scrapping a partnership at Rockefeller Center that the home-sharing giant's CEO touted as a '21st-century hospitality model'Road to an IPOAirbnb is raising $1 billion in debt, its second fundraising round in just two weeks, as the company tries to navigate a tough economic landscapeSome large Airbnb investors have slashed their internal valuations of the company by more than 30% as the pandemic halts travelAirbnb could boom after the coronavirus downturn, assuming it survives the crisisAirbnb's losses swelled to $674 million last year, even before the coronavirus crisis crushed its businessThe coronavirus crisis has exposed a crucial weakness in Airbnb's business model and it's likely to haunt the $31 billion company's IPO plansAirbnb was supposed to ignite a boom of tech startup direct listings, but then the coronavirus killed the IPO marketLeadershipAirbnb is facing an unprecedented threat from the coronavirus. Here are the veteran execs on Airbnb's board of directors who will be critical to CEO Brian Chesky's success or failure.Airbnb's CEO compared the coronavirus crisis to Hurricane Maria, saying its business will bounce back, just as it did after the storm that ravaged Puerto RicoMeet CEO Brian Chesky, who cofounded Airbnb in 2008 to help pay his San Francisco apartment's rent and is now worth $4.1 billion.InvestmentsAirbnb-backed Zeus Living slashes almost half of its remaining staff less than two months after a round of layoffsAirbnb-backed corporate housing startup Zeus Living is asking landlords to renegotiate their leases and withholding April and May rent until they signAirbnb-backed Zeus Living just laid off 30% of staff as the coronavirus upends travel and hospitality startupsChanges for hostsAirbnb is establishing a new cleaning protocol for hosts to limit spread of COVID-19Airbnb hosts will be charged fees if they cancel summer bookings due to coronavirus concernsAirbnb employees chipped in $1 million from their own pockets to help economically devastated hosts, and that says something beautiful, and scaryAirbnb's hosts aren't impressed with the company's $260 million package to make up for coronavirus cancellations. 'People see it for what it is — it's PR.'Read the original article on Business Insider

Airbnb went from a likely 2020 public debut to laying off 1,900 people and cutting projects. Here's how we got here.

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Layoffs and other workforce changes

New business focuses

Road to an IPO

Leadership

Investments

Changes for hosts

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