Coronavirus: Airbnb fires a quarter of its employees worldwide

The boss of Airbnb, a company hit hard by the pandemic of new coronavirus and containment measures, announced Tuesday to its employees the dismissal of about 25% of its 7,500 employees worldwide, according to a published text on the group website.

"We are collectively going through the most painful crisis of our lives," said Brian Chesky, co-founder of the housing reservation platform.

Airbnb "has been hit hard" by the epidemic which has halted travel worldwide, with revenue forecasts for this year "less than half" of those generated in 2019, he said. it added in a message to employees.

To deal with the crisis, the company has already raised $ 2 billion and cut costs across the board, said Brian Chesky.

But the platform is faced with two "harsh realities: we do not know when the trips will resume, and when they have done, it will be different", he explained to justify these nearly 1,900 layoffs.

He also announced a pause in the group's investments in its transport division and the Airbnb Studios project, and a reduction in investments in several projects to integrate hotels and luxury properties into its offer.

According to Brian Chesky, this "refocusing" of the commercial strategy will allow Airbnb to return to the "roots and bases" of the company, while customers "will want options that are closer to home, more secure and less dear "when the containment measures, which affect billions of people around the world, will be lifted.