Tesla (TSLA) adds Airbnb co-founder to its board

Tesla (TSLA) announced today that it appointed Joseph Gebbia Jr., best known for being an Airbnb co-founder, to its board of directors.

Earlier this year, Tesla announced that billionaire Larry Ellison is leaving its board of directors. At the time, the automaker said it had no immediate plan to replace him on the board.

Today, in an SEC filing, Tesla confirmed that Joseph Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb, will be filling the seat:

On and effective as of September 25, 2022, Joseph Gebbia was appointed to serve as a member of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Tesla, Inc. (“Tesla”).

The company noted that he hasn’t been appointed to any committee on the board and that he declined to be compensated until next year at the earliest.

Tesla wrote about Gebbia:

Gebbia, a designer and entrepreneur, has spent the last 14 years of his career as co-founder of Airbnb. The service he built with his co-founders transformed the hospitality industry, allowing travelers seeking local experiences to book homes in nearly every country around the world. Since the 2007 inception in his San Francisco living room, Airbnb has enabled mutual trust for over 4M hosts to share their homes. Hosts have since welcomed more than 1B guest arrivals and earned over $150B, creating economic impact worldwide. As the original designer and host, Gebbia helped shape Airbnb’s product, interface, and brand to become a household name. His entrepreneurial instinct also led to the formation of their community-powered non-profit, Airbnb.org. With the mission to open homes in times of crisis, their emergency response efforts have housed over 200,000 people during natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the global refugee crisis.

Gebbia doesn’t have any known relationship with Tesla or CEO Elon Musk. The company hasn’t disclosed if Gebbia, who is estimated to be worth $7 billion, has invested in the company. It will have to shortly.

Tesla has previously partnered with Airbnb to install charging stations at hosts’ homes.

The automaker added some information about what its new board member has been up to recently:

Most recently, Gebbia departed his full-time operating position and transitioned to an advisor role while serving on the Board of Directors of both Airbnb and Airbnb.org. He’s begun working on his next startup, acquired a minority stake in the San Antonio Spurs, gives back via his commitment to the Giving Pledge, and serves on other boards and councils such as his alma mater, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Olympic Refuge Foundation, UNHCR, Tent.org, Malala Fund, and the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity.

When leaving his operational role at Airbnb earlier this year, Gebbia confirmed that he will be focusing on being a dad. He also launched a collection of modular office furniture.

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