Airbnb's C-Suite reshuffle: Another new era for the CFO?
The move of Dave Stephenson from CFO to a newly created 'chief business officer' position highlights the continuing evolution of senior finance leads as strategic business partners
Airbnb’s CFO is on the move – again.
Dave Stephenson, who took over the role in 2018, has been promoted to the newly created role of ‘Chief Business Officer’. Ellie Mertz, an 11-year veteran of the company, will step into the CFO role.
“We’re introducing the role of chief business officer because we’re about to embark on our next chapter as a company,” said Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky in a statement.
“In this critical new role, Dave will drive growth across our existing and new businesses. … This includes driving international expansion, growing global host supply (across existing and new businesses), and leading all business and corporate development activities at Airbnb.”
Stephenson joined Airbnb after a 17-year career at Amazon, where he was most recently VP and CFO of their Worldwide Consumer Organization, which is responsible for all of Amazon’s global website sales including Amazon Prime and subsidiaries such as Whole Foods and Zappos.
Stephenson will assume his new role on Jan. 2, with the regional leaders of Airbnb’s Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe business units reporting to him in the new job.
But why did the vacation-rental platform choose to elevate its internal finance head to a new, growth-focused role, rather than make a lateral hire or look elsewhere for talent?
Third CFO in five years for Airbnb
In 2018, Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky announced a new direction for the company. The media picked up on one specific phrase in Chesky’s arsenal: that Airbnb has “an infinite time horizon and is focused on serving all stakeholders”.
‘Infinite’. A word which supposedly prompted then CFO Laurence Tosi to leave the business. Tosi, who was previously chief financial officer at Blackstone, was seen to have played a key role in fundraising and instilling financial discipline at Airbnb, which was valued by investors at $30 billion at the time of his departure.
Tosi said he was leaving the company to focus on his investment fund, Weston Capital Partners. But Chesky’s comments prompted many investors to question the company’s timeline of an initial public offering. Chesky ruled out Airbnb going public shortly after.
Mertz stepped in as interim CFO but it was Stephenson who took on the role permanently a few weeks later. Together, Mertz and Stephenson oversaw the company’s successful IPO in 2020.
Airbnb has now given Mertz a second change at the job and is a testament to her experience and understanding of the business, strategic foresight, and impeccable judgment.
Right man for the job
The CFO role has traditionally been associated with financial oversight and regulatory compliance. However, in today’s rapidly changing business landscape, CFOs are increasingly taking on a more strategic role. They are becoming integral to shaping business strategy, driving growth, and managing complex business challenges.
As Chesky stated, “As we expand beyond our core, it will be paramount to have an executive dedicated to our long-term growth plans, and there’s nobody better than Dave to do this.”
In his new role, Stephenson will be responsible for driving international expansion, growing global host supply, and leading all business and corporate development activities. This move signifies the growing importance of the CFO’s to gain exposure to business strategy during their tenure.
As Marc Greenberg, CFO at Altruist, notes, “The most successful CFOs are those that think broadly and can open up the aperture beyond the financials. You have to look out three or five years. If you don’t have a strategic plan for your business, priority one is to make one.”
The job role of a chief business officer essentially includes managing various aspects of a company’s business development, including sales and marketing efforts. They work closely with different departments of the company to ensure that goals are aligned with the company’s mission and vision.
CBOs are also responsible for identifying new revenue streams and developing strategies to capitalize on them.
The C-suite reshuffle at Airbnb follows some becoming bearish about Airbnb after it warned that room night growth would be slowing in the fourth quarter. International expansion, which will be high on Stephenson’s agenda, is a key priority.
Last month, Airbnb spent under $200 million to acquire Gameplanner.AI – a San Francisco-headquartered artificial intelligence startup in pursuit of growth.
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