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☆ Airbnb Co-Founder’s New Business Is Building Small Homes in Backyards
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Joe Gebbia co-founded Airbnb Inc. as a company that helped people rent out their homes to guests. His new venture is about adding small homes to people’s backyards. The new startup, known as Samara, plans to sell factory-produced studio and one-bedroom units to homeowners. The company is looking to capitalize on laxer laws and rising demand for affordable housing spurred by surging home prices and ballooning rents.

The banks are now less conservative in counting expected rental income when assessing loan applications, said the four sources. In September, about a third of new bank mortgage lending was for investment. On Nov. 12, NAB will also halve its discount on rental income to 10%, including for Airbnb-like short-term rentals, the sources said. NAB, Westpac and ANZ trail market leader Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX), which has a quarter of the mortgage market. Commonwealth continues to apply a rental income discount of 20% on mortgage applications, a sixth source said.

☆ TripAdvisor tumbles on profit miss, Q4 revenue slowdown outlook
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 8 (Reuters) - TripAdvisor Inc's (TRIP.O) shares sank about 19% in premarket trade on Tuesday, a day after the online travel firm reported a weak quarterly profit and flagged a slowdown in revenue in the current quarter. Shares of the company were trading at $19.17 before the bell and were on course to open at their lowest level since August. Currency fluctuations, primarily in euros, shaved off revenue growth by about 11 percentage points during the third quarter, compared with a year earlier. The firm also flagged that its revenue is set to rise in low-single digits compared with 2019 levels, implying a modest slowdown from third quarter. The company also beat revenue estimates, helped by sustained demand for travel and dining.

☆ Airbnb to Make Cleaning Fees Clearer on Searches After Customer Complaints
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Allison Pohle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The cleaning fees that customers of Airbnb Inc. have long complained about will soon become more apparent early in searches for lodging, the company says. Starting in December, on an undetermined date, the company will allow guests to filter their search results by the total cost of the stay before taxes, Chief Executive Brian Chesky said on Sunday. That means the often-maligned cleaning fees will be among the fees included in the prices customers see.

☆ Airbnb changes price display on app after customer complaints
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 7 (Reuters) - Airbnb Inc's (ABNB.O) chief executive tweeted on Monday that the vacation rental company would make changes in the way it displays prices on its platform after it faced customer complaints. "I've heard you loud and clear—you feel like prices aren't transparent and checkout tasks are a pain," CEO Brian Chesky tweeted. Chesky said Airbnb would make four changes starting next month, where guests would be able to see the total price they are required to pay up front. The San Francisco-based company will prioritize the total price instead of a nightly fare in its search ranking algorithm, Chesky said. Addressing customer complaints about guests having to complete checkout tasks, Chesky said guests should not have to do "unreasonable checkout tasks such as stripping the beds, doing the laundry, or vacuuming".

☆ Airbnb Details Road Map to Lower Cloud Costs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

PREVIEWMany companies that have shifted their enterprise-technology tools to the cloud in recent years are similarly seeking to reduce their cloud costs, especially in the market downturn. Corporate cloud spending will moderate from recent highs, analysts say, as companies seek more discipline in that spending. “That reduced a significant amount of our storage costs right off the bat,” Mr. Nagle said. Airbnb, one of Amazon’s largest cloud customers according to Amazon, also worked with the cloud provider to figure out what it was overpaying for. By putting its spending toward lower-cost cloud services it uses more often, Airbnb is allocating its cloud budget “in a smarter way,” Mr. Bala said.

☆ Airbnb hosts are worrying about an 'Airbnbust.' Here's the main reason some short-term-rental owners are experiencing a rough patch.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

After factoring in expenses, she told her 1.75 million subscribers that she lost nearly $10,000 from June through September. Airbnb hosts in certain areas are experiencing booking slowdowns that some people are calling an "Airbnbust." Nixon told Insider that her tweet came after she'd noticed changing attitudes in posts in a 196,000-person Airbnb Superhosts Facebook group. Courtesy of Amy Nixon"I would say it's happened over the last several months," she told Insider. Nixon told Insider the slowdowns hosts have been seeing in recent years come from one main source: too much supply.

☆ Tech Layoffs Reflect Worsening Outlook
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Steven Rosenbush | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

Layoffs at ride-sharing firm Lyft Inc. and payments company Stripe Inc., as well as a pause in hiring at Amazon.com Inc., reflect a darker outlook for tech. PREVIEW“The changes that we will see going forward will be based purely on the economic drivers from the overall economy slowing down,” Mr. Kanchi said. The metaverse, NFTs, and some aspects of cryptocurrency, or those technologies which don’t have immediate monetary value, will continue to fall out of favor, Mr. Kanchi said. “The downturn has kind of started but it hasn’t hit bottom and will get bad, very quickly, likely sometime mid next year,” Mr. Chan said. He predicts that “the new Google or Uber of 2023 and 2024 will come out of this downturn.”Write to Steven Rosenbush at steven.rosenbush@wsj.com

☆ Analysis: Tech Layoffs Reflect Worsening Outlook
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Steven Rosenbush | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

☆ Airbnb Says Its Focus on Brand Marketing Instead of Search Is Working
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Megan Graham | Ceo Brian Chesky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Airbnb Inc. said its strategy of slashing advertising spending, investing in brand marketing and lessening its reliance on search-engine marketing is continuing to pay off. Its marketing spending is now low enough that it doesn’t anticipate drastic reductions even if economic headwinds worsen next year, it said. It has also made deep cuts to its overall marketing spending. “Our brand marketing results are delivering excellent results overall with a strong rate of return, and it’s been so successful that we’re actually expanding to more countries,” he said. But the brand could be tested if its competitors ratchet up spending in a downturn, Mr. Zucker said.

☆ U.S. DOJ preparing to probe Adobe's $20 bln Figma deal - Politico
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Shadia Nasralla | Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice is preparing to open an investigation into Adobe Inc's (ADBE.O) $20 billion takeover of Figma, Politico reported on Wednesday, citing four people with knowledge of the matter and a document it viewed. The DOJ has been reaching out to customers and competitors of Adobe and Figma, as well as Figma's venture capital investors, in recent weeks, according to the report. "Adobe and Figma today are not meaningful competitors," Adobe said in an emailed statement. Figma and the DOJ did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The exact timing of the probe is unclear, Politico said, adding that the companies are still in the review period mandated by law.

SummarySummary Companies Fed rate decision due at 2 p.m. However, U.S. private payrolls increased more than expected in October, the ADP National Employment report showed, offering further evidence that the Fed's rapid rate hikes have yet to significantly slow economic growth. The report showed private payrolls rose by 239,000 jobs last month. The non-farm payrolls report due on Friday will offer further clues on the outlook for interest rates. read more read moreTinder-owner Match Group (MTCH.O) rose 6.7% after reporting better-than-expected third-quarter revenue.

☆ Airbnb expects holiday-quarter bookings to moderate; shares fall
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Aishwarya Nair | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 1 (Reuters) - Airbnb Inc forecast holiday-quarter revenue that could fall short of market expectations, saying a strong dollar had started to pressure its business and bookings would moderate, sending its shares down 7% after the bell. Airbnb's shares have slumped more than a third this year, versus a roughly 19% fall in the broader market (.SPX). Airbnb guided fourth-quarter revenue between $1.80 billion and $1.88 billion, versus analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion, according to Refinitiv. The company recorded its highest ever third-quarter bookings, with nearly 100 million nights and experiences booked. Airbnb said, however, the majority of travelers in North America and Europe had booked domestic stays.

☆ Airbnb Books Record Revenue as Travel Demand Remains Strong
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Denny Jacob | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Airbnb Inc. posted its most profitable quarter to date, with record revenue bolstering the case that travel demand remains strong despite continuing challenges from rampant inflation. The home-sharing company said its results were driven by higher bookings in cities, stronger cross-border travel and longer stays. Airbnb said third-quarter nights and experiences—activities reserved through the platform—booked were its highest ever, with a 25% increase.

☆ Airbnb's revenue forecast takes hit from strong dollar, slowing bookings
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 1 (Reuters) - Airbnb Inc forecast fourth-quarter revenue below market estimates on Tuesday, saying a strong U.S. dollar had started to pressure its business and that bookings would moderate after a bumper third quarter. The vacation rental firm expects fourth-quarter revenue between $1.80 billion and $1.88 billion, the midpoint of which missed analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES. San Francisco-based Airbnb recorded its highest ever third-quarter bookings, with nearly 100 million nights and experiences booked, but it said current-quarter bookings will "slightly moderate" from those levels. Still, it is "well-positioned for the road ahead", the company added, after surpassing quarterly revenue estimates. Net profit rose 45.6% to $1.21 billion, or $1.79 per share, while revenue increased 28.9% to $2.88 billion, beating estimates of $2.84 billion.

☆ Pfizer, Uber and Starbucks Highlight Another Busy Earnings Week
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Will Feuer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Starbucks on Thursday will report whether customers are paring back on purchases at its cafes. Pfizer Inc., Uber Technologies Inc. and Starbucks Corp. are among the heavyweights headlining another busy earnings week as investors search for insight into the state of the broader economy. Other companies on the docket to issue their latest quarterly reports include Taco Bell parent company Yum Brands Inc. and CVS Health Corp. Investors also will hear from travel companies such as Airbnb Inc., Expedia Group Inc., and Marriott International Inc., payments rivals Block Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc., and private-equity giants KKR & Co. Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc.

☆ Tesla adds billionaire Airbnb co-founder Gebbia to board
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb speaks during the second day of the first Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. November 1, 2017. REUTERS/Kamil KrzaczynskiSept 28 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) said on Wednesday that Airbnb Inc (ABNB.O) co-founder Joseph Gebbia has joined the electric vehicle maker's board, reversing a move to trim the number of directors at the world's most valuable carmaker. Ellison, a self-described close friend of Musk, was appointed by Tesla in December 2018 to comply with the agreement. Gebbia, a U.S. billionaire designer and Internet entrepreneur, joins Tesla after saying in July he would take on an advisory role at Airbnb, stepping away from his full-time role. Some experts doubted whether the billionaire would add diversity to the Tesla board.

☆ Tesla adds Airbnb co-founder Gebbia to board
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb speaks during the second day of the first Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. November 1, 2017. REUTERS/Kamil KrzaczynskiSept 28 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) said on Wednesday that Airbnb Inc (ABNB.O) co-founder Joseph Gebbia has joined the electric vehicle maker's board, months after stepping back from his full-time role at the vacation rental company. In July, Gebbia said he would take on an advisory role at Airbnb, stepping away from his full-time role after 14 years at the company. The Airbnb co-founder had in 2018 called Musk's attempt to take Tesla private a "baller move". In a blog post accompanying the filing, Tesla said Gebbia has begun work on his next startup without elaborating further.

☆ Anthony Gonzalez snags GoodRx, Marie Newman sells Moderna, Gary Peters buys fossil fuel burners
▼ + stars: | 2021-04-26 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Newman sells ModernaLast week, Insider reporters Kimberly Leonard and Warren Rojas profiled the stock trades of Rep. Marie Newman, a freshman Democrat from Illinois, and her husband. On Wednesday, Newman reported that she or her husband made additional stock trades in January. And he and his wife last week reported making dozens of different stock trades and financial moves during March. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat from New Jersey, made more than 60 stock trades during March. Rep. John Yarmuth, a Democrat from Kentucky, meanwhile made nearly 20 stock trades during March.

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