The Top People at Airbnb

Airbnb has been undergoing an executive reshuffle since Laurence Tosi (Chief Financial Officer) left the company in February and Belinda Johnson was named the company’s new Chief Operating Officer. Airbnb is gearing up for an IPO in 2019 and needs an experienced executive team to manage the transition to a public company.

Brian Chesky (CEO & co-Founder) and Tosi reportedly had different opinions on Airbnb’s strategic direction where Tosi wanted to double down on Homes (the company’s biggest business area) while Chesky wanted to build new products such as Airbnb Experiences. Tosi left the company in February and has yet to name a new Chief Financial Officer, which must be at the very top of Chesky’s to-do list.

Tosi was reportedly interested in becoming President of Homes but instead the job went to Greg Greeley, an outsider who was previously VP of Prime at Amazon. Airbnb says it hired Greeley for his experience in global operations and expanding businesses overseas and his experience with creating a robust membership program. Greeley had previously helped grow Amazon’s European business.

According to sources, Greeley had turned his attention to managing the integration of Whole Foods into Amazon after the acquisition in August 2017. Greeley had also previously been approached by Booking.com, Airbnb’s biggest rival, about becoming the company’s new CEO. Greeley’s decision to join Airbnb can be seen as a big pat on the back to Chesky and the success of Airbnb so far.

Airbnb’s executive team seems to be taking shape ahead of the company’s IPO except for the gap at Chief Financial Officer. Our guess is that that situation will be resolved soon.

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