Some hosts who ignored or deleted an email regarding Airbnb’s IPO missed $ 15,000: NPR

The email began with: “Hosts like you are a foundation of our business.” Tom Krones, an Airbnb host based in Austin, TX, was quick to dismiss it. It was November 16.

Now Krones says, “I’m kicking myself completely.”

Since Airbnb made its public debut on Thursday, shattering expectations and doubling its bid price, regrets have been mounting among hosts like Krones, who received the email last month with the subject line. less than attractive “Airbnb’s Directed Share Program”. “

It landed in the virtual trash can of dozens of hosts who thought it didn’t matter. Others, like Krones, have put off the decision that could have enriched them with thousands of dollars in a matter of hours.

“You know, I should probably buy a few stocks just for fun,” Krones, a software engineer, recalls thinking when he read it. “But part of me was just like, ‘Aw, I’ll do that later.’ “

As is often the case, later has come and gone – and it has become too late.

In Galveston, Texas, Airbnb host Sharon Milner Honza said she was interested in buying shares, although the email didn’t seem urgent at the time.

“I got an email, and of course it was buried in tons of spam. I didn’t know it was there until after the fact,” said Milner Honza.

Sara Shea, who lives in Asheville, North Carolina, is a single mom with preschool toddlers, a busy life in normal times, and an even more overwhelming life amid the coronavirus pandemic. So it was no surprise that the email passed right by her, she said.

“I get a ton of spam, a ton of stuff. And I saw it and I said, ‘This is something that I need to go back and take a closer look at’, but I didn’t read all the details, ”said Shea, who uses the income she earns as an Airbnb host to supplement her marketing work.

When she finally read and understood the email, she decided she wanted to invest. However, the deadline had passed.

“This year has been really tough,” said Shea. “So here’s just another bowling pin that got knocked over by it all,” she said.

Thousands of hosts received the invitation to buy shares before the initial public offering. And many hosts got it right.

This has been seen as an olive branch for some hosts who remain enraged at Airbnb’s decision to fully reimburse guests during the pandemic, overriding host cancellation policies. The move sparked legal battles over breach of contract and left the hosts feeling aggrieved.

Whatever the reason, the hosts have shown an appetite for the actions of the company.

The longer a host was active with Airbnb, the more eligible they were to purchase shares, at $ 68 apiece.

Originally, Airbnb said the maximum number of shares a host could buy was 275. Demand was so strong, however, that the company lowered the cap to 200 shares.

Airbnb host Jino Cabrera in Los Angeles wasted no time after being given the green light to buy 200 shares. He bought them all.

“Stocks aren’t my world at all. I’ve never bought a single stock in my life,” said Cabrera, who works in real estate. “My partner was a little angry with me. He said, ‘How are we going to pay for this?’ And I said, “We’ll find ways. Do not worry.” “

It was a gamble that paid off handsomely. When the stock price soared, Cabrera sold all of his stock at $ 144 a piece. He won almost $ 15,000.

“It was overwhelming. I was blown away,” Cabrera said. He is now partying in Las Vegas with his interior designer companion.

Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky was stunned on Thursday, literally unable to find the words when a Bloomberg presenter told him his company’s price had more than doubled before negotiation.

For Krones, Chesky’s astonishment relieved him a little.

“It makes me feel a little better about it all, to see his face and say to myself, ‘Okay, if he didn’t know, then I can’t know either,'” said Krones.

Of course, that’s a cold comfort, Krones said, because he’s not a dollar richer today than he was before the IPO.

The same can’t be said for Chesky, whose net worth after Airbnb went public rose by around $ 7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Airbnb declined to comment for this story.