Airbnb and OYO to make redundancies

Airbnb and OYO have both announced that redundancies are to be made, with Airbnb cutting around 25% of its workforce.

Homeshare platform Airbnb's co-founder and chief executive Brian Chesky said in a note to employees that nearly 1,900 employees out of 7,500 would lose their jobs.

The company could not confirm if any UK staff would be affected, but the final working day for departing employees based in the US and Canada will be 11 May.

Chesky said: “We will have to part with teammates that we love and value. We have great people leaving Airbnb, and other companies will be lucky to have them.

“To take care of those that are leaving, we have looked across severance, equity, healthcare and job support and done our best to treat everyone in a compassionate and thoughtful way.”

Meanwhile, OYO has entered a 30-day consultation period with "some roles in the business at risk of redundancy", according to a note sent to UK staff on Friday.

Rishabh Gupta, head of OYO UK, Ireland and Europe, said in the letter: "We have come to a point, given the market conditions, where we need to acknowledge that the market will not rebound soon enough to allow us to meet the levels set by our business plan.

"We not only need a plan to survive the immediate Covid-19 pandemic, but also sustain the long-term reductions in the customer demand along with the other economic shocks that this pandemic has caused."

An OYO spokesperson said they could not put a precise number on how many roles will be impacted as this is dependent on the consultation and how and when the UK lockdown is eased.

Both companies have blamed the severe impact of coronavirus on business for the decision.

Photo: Shutterstock

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