Airbnb co-founder offers stock to high school graduates
Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of Airbnb, addressed the class of 2022 at Brookwood High School. The 2000 graduate gave advice and $2 million in stock, or about $2,500 in stock per graduate.
Seniors at a Gwinnett County high school received a surprise gift from the Airbnb confounder during his graduation speech.
Joe Gebbia, the Airbnb co-founder and Brookwood High School graduate, shocked the class of 2022 by telling them he was giving them 22 shares of his company each.
Joe Gebbia speaks onstage during #BoFVOICES on November 30, 2017 in Oxfordshire, England. (Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images for The Business of Fashion)
“I definitely don’t remember the advice I got when I graduated and I don’t expect you to either.” the Gwinnett Daily Post reported Gebbia tells the graduates. “So I thought of a way to help you remember. I’d like to give you a piece of my dream to help inspire yours and let you know it’s possible.”
The school’s Twitter account said about 890 “lucky broncos” would get the stock.
As of Thursday morning, Airbnb’s stock price hit $110.40 a share, meaning each graduate received a graduation gift of just over $2,400.
“We are proud to call Joe a Bronco and proud that Brookwood is part of its remarkable history of success, innovation, philanthropy and global change,” said Brookwood High School Principal William Bo Ford. “Just days ago we put up a plaque for Joe on the Brookwood Wall of Fame. He will see it when he returns to school to speak at graduation and celebrate the class of 2022.”
Last year Gebbia donated $700,000 to the high school to establish and fund the Joe Gebbia Endowment Fund for the Visual Arts and made another donation to support the school’s athletes.
The Airbnb co-founder also sits on the board of his alma mater, the Rhode Island School of Design.
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