TECH

Airbnb dismisses 25% of employees worldwide due to pandemic impact

Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and containment measures, the Airbnb home rental platform for travelers announced on Tuesday (5) to its team that it will lay off about 25% of its 7,500 employees worldwide.
"We are going through the most difficult crisis of our lives," said Brian Chesky, co-founder and president of the platform, which has already raised $ 2 billion to deal with the crisis and reduced spending across all sections.
Personnel cuts are necessary for the company to survive until people can travel again, Chesky said.
Airbnb "was hit hard" by the pandemic, as the disease disrupted travel around the world.
The financial forecasts for the company this year have been reduced to "less than half" than last year, the company president added in a message to employees.
The platform faces two "harsh realities: we don't know when travel will resume and, when that happens, it will be different," he explained, justifying the nearly 1,900 layoffs.
The businessman also announced a pause in the group's investments in its transport division, among other areas, in addition to the reduction in investments in various projects to integrate hotels and luxury properties at its service.
According to Chesky, customers "want options closer to their homes, safer and less expensive" referring to the future, when the containment measures, which affect billions of people worldwide, are over.

AFP