Open homes by blackrock Airbnb
Why do you think they have been buying up the market?
This isn't the first time Airbnb has indicated an interest in moving governance practices away from the shareholder-centric model that's dominated Wall Street since the go-go 1980s. Back in 2018, CEO Brian Chesky authored a similar note emphasizing the company's desire to benefit all stakeholders. Later that year, reports emerged that Airbnb was exploring ways it could offer equity to its hosts, a concept that could reshape the way various gig-economy companies compensate their workers—sorry, "contractors."
The ideas are good ones, in my opinion. A near-sociopathic focus on stock price and quarterly numbers seems unhealthy both for society at large and for the long-term health of companies themselves. But theory is one thing. How much of an impact will BlackRock and Airbnb's letters make?
Airbnb has more power over its own operations, but the changes the company announced are far from wholesale. Airbnb will now consider metrics like guest safety when doling out employee bonuses. It will host a stakeholder day to report on its progress. It announced plans for a stakeholder committee led by current COO Belinda Johnson that will offer its opinions to the Airbnb board about the ongoing effectiveness of this "multi-stakeholder approach."
In short, it's not like Airbnb is going to become a user-owned co-op, or that it's going to start donating 10% of its profits to a charity that would help those affected by the Bay Area housing crisis (although the company has pledged cash to the problem before). I suppose a committee could in some way be construed as "a positive contribution to society," but there's a bit of a difference in scope between Airbnb's words and its actions.
=airbnb has been in bed with blackrock for awhile, pun intended.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/12-big-things-airbnb-blackrock-060000601.html
Airbnb raising another $1 billion in debt as coronavirus ravages tourism business
PUBLISHED TUE, APR 14 2020
A week after reeling in $1 billion in fresh capital, Airbnb is raising another $1 billion in debt as it seeks to pad its balance sheet to get through the COVID-19 crisis, according to people familiar with the matter.
Fidelity, T. Rowe Price and Blackrock are participating in the financing, as well as Oaktree Capital, Apollo Global Management, Benefit Street Partners and Owl Rock Capital, said the people, who declined to be named because the deal hasn’t been made public. Bloomberg was first to report on the financing round.
Airbnb is among the many companies tied to the tourist industry that’s seen its business disappear over the past six weeks amid the rapid spread of the coronavirus. The company is refunding customers who had to cancel trips and set aside $250 million to reimburse hosts.
Airbnb is paying about 9% interest on the new debt, the people said. That’s a slightly lower rate than the interest rate on the debt piece of the announced funding round from last week, which was a mix of debt and equity. For the debt portion of that financing, Airbnb is paying about 11.5%. Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners are participating again after also putting money into the prior deal.
The newest round comes with a reduced rate because it’s first lien, meaning the investors will get paid out first in the event of a default. The previous financing was second lien, so investors would get paid later. The equity portion of last week’s deal valued Airbnb at $18 billion, nearly half of what the company was worth in 2017.
Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs advised on the transaction.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/14/airbnb-raises-another-1-billion-in-debt.html
Maybe anon is projecting but gut says blackrock+Airbnb+refugees=America’s destruction
Blackrock buying homes then joining with Airbnb doesn’t seem like a stretch to me, but what do I know other than the swamp is deep and this seems like a perfectly guud way to ruin suburbs and communities.
Gab makes list of unvaxxed for the dems