Home-sharing start-up Airbnb has tapped a senior Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) executive as its new chief financial officer after a 10-month search, ahead of a widely anticipated initial public offering next year.
Dave Stephenson will join Airbnb as chief financial officer after spending 17 years at Amazon, most recently as VP and CFO of Amazon's Worldwide Consumer Organization, responsible for all global website sales.
Stephenson will start in early January, Airbnb said in a statement, and will replace Laurence Tosi, who reportedly left the company amid rumors of tensions with Airbnb co-founder and CEO, Brian Chesky.
Cyber Monday Roundup: Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart slash prices ahead of the holiday
“Dave is one of the best financial operators in the world and there’s no one better prepared to serve as our CFO. I’m proud of everything we’ve achieved, but Airbnb is just getting started,” said Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky.
“In the years ahead, Dave will be Airbnb’s quarterback for long-term growth, driving us to be even more efficient and leverage what makes Airbnb unique to create new businesses and continue to expand,” he added.
Earlier this month, Airbnb said it had "substantially more" than $1 billion in revenue for the third quarter, marking its strongest quarter yet.
“Airbnb is the most valuable start-up in Silicon Valley behind Uber. The appointment of someone with extensive public company experience like Stephenson is likely to fuel speculation that an IPO could come as soon as next year,” reported the Financial Times.
Contact Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive