Shake-up at Airbnb: CFO leaves after butting heads with CEO for years

Airbnb CFO Laurence Tosi parted ways with founder Brian Chesky after a rocky, 2-year argument over how they would expand into air travel.

Yesterday, with rumors swirling, Airbnb announced via their blog that CFO Laurence Tosi is officially out.

Shake-up at Airbnb: CFO leaves after butting heads with CEO for years

Irreconcilable differences between Tosi and CEO Brian Chesky allegedly led to the split, with sources confirming the two clashed over some of Chesky’s ambitious goals for the company.

Putting the AIR in Airbnb

Tosi joined the company over 2 years ago and since has been hailed as bringing “financial discipline” and “new focus areas” to the short-term home rental company.

According to The Information, Tosi has been vying for more control at the company for some time, even pitching himself to become the COO of the company’s “homes” division in recent months.

One of the biggest points of contention came with the company’s desired foray into air travel.

Tosi and Chesky were reportedly at odds with how they should get into the space — Chesky wanting to go for broke and create their own airline, while Tosi looked to start smaller by integrating themselves with a flight-booking company.

Sooo, what now?

In the announcement, Airbnb said the ousting of Tosi was part of their plan to build a “21st century company.”

The post also stated that Tosi “has decided to dedicate his full time and energy to his investment fund, Weston Capital Partners, while Airbnb’s head of financial planning and analysis, Ellie Mertz, will take over as CFO in the interim.

As for Airbnb’s future in 2018, Chesky stated that the company will not be going public this year.

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