Brian Chesky cofounded peer-to-peer room and home rental company Airbnb with Nathan Blecharczyk and Joe Gebbia in 2008; Chesky is CEO. Airbnb went public in a blockbuster IPO on December 10, 2020, with the share price more than doubling to upwards of $144. A former bodybuilder, Chesky attended Rhode Island School of Design where he met Gebbia. Chesky is the son of two social workers; he made $40,000 a year as an industrial designer in Los Angeles before Airbnb took off. The pandemic has cratered Airbnb's business. Rumored to go public in 2020, it instead took $2 billion in funds from PE firms in April to stay afloat.
