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Product cover image for Airbnb: Surviving Coronavirus

Airbnb: Surviving Coronavirus

Jeff Epstein, Margot Sutherland, Khozema Shipchandler

Product #:F-320
Supplier:Stanford University
Discipline:Finance
Setting:United States
Details:Case (PDF) • 18 pages • 2023-03-14

Subjects:

Crisis managementCash flowScenario planning

Industries:

Goods, trade, and consumer services

Geography:

United StatesNorth America
Your Price:$9.71

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This case explores the crisis faced by Airbnb in early 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic brought global travel and hospitality to a near standstill. CEO Brian Chesky and CFO Dave Stephenson were forced to put IPO plans on hold and confront an existential threat to the business. As cancellations grew and tensions mounted between guests and hosts around refunds, Airbnb had to make urgent decisions about cash preservation, stakeholder prioritization, and how to fund operations amid frozen capital markets. The case invites students to analyze the company’s scenario planning, stakeholder dilemmas, and financing options as it attempts to survive an unprecedented collapse in demand.

Learning Objectives

This case is designed to help students learn how to navigate crisis decision-making as a CFO. Students analyze how to preserve cash, conduct scenario planning, manage stakeholder tensions, and make principled, high-stakes decisions amid extreme uncertainty.
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Case Study: Airbnb: Surviving Coronavirus (English version) | Ivey Publishing