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Silicon Valley IPO Dam Just Broke

Silicon Valley has been suffering a tech IPO drought, but the dam may have broken after data software company Talend, Inc. jumped 42 percent on its first day of trading. Talend raised $94.5 million in its July 29 initial public

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Berlin Cracks Down On Airbnb Rentals To Cool Housing Market

Berlin has begun restricting private property rentals through Airbnb and similar online platforms, threatening hefty fines in a controversial move meant to keep housing affordable for locals. The German capital fears that the growing trend of people letting out apartments

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Airbnb Cuba Offers Colonial Mansions for $80 Per Day

Although President Obama on arrival in communist Cuba said he was “confident” the U.S. embargo would end and the two nations would normalize trade, the only immediate opportunity seems to be Airbnb, which is already offering thousands of rentals.

The Associated Press

Santa Monica Slaps Airbnb Owners with $500 Fines

The city of Santa Monica, California, which was nicknamed “The People’s Republic of Santa Monica” as far back as the early 1980s, has launched an attack on Airbnb and VRBO, using the Santa Monica City Council’s ban on short-term rentals issued in May 2015.

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The Gig Economy Appears to Be Growing– Here’s Why

With the rise of Uber, Airbnb, and TaskRabbit, there’s a sinking suspicion that the traditional 9-5 job is being replaced by flexible, independent contract work. But, despite the existence of multiple billion-dollar Silicon Valley startups hiring an army of independent contract workers, economists have had difficulty finding any evidence that Americans were more likely to be self-employed.

REUTERS/ROBERT GALBRAITH

Protesters Storm Airbnb HQ Before Proposition F Vote

Protestors stormed the headquarters of multibillion dollar lodging startup Airbnb on Monday in San Francisco, one day before Bay Area residents cast their votes either in favor of or against Proposition F–the “Airbnb initiative,” a measure that seeks to regulate short-terms rentals in the city.

Airbnb protest (via Geoffrey Nguyen / Twitter)

Airbnb’s $8M Political Campaign vs. Proposition F

Airbnb has made headlines for reportedly spending a whopping $8,000,000 to defeat a San Francisco proposition to restrict short-term rentals. That translates into roughly $40 per voter of advertising from Airbnb alone, not including supporting tech lobbies.

Airbnb ad in San Francisco

Airbnb Fighting Existential Battle in SF over Prop F

The $8 million political war chest raised by Airbnb and others to defeat San Francisco’s Proposition F, which would be an existential threat to private short-term “vacation rentals,” appears to be succeeding, with a double-digit lead in the polls.

Airbnb Pride (Quinn Dombrowski / Flickr / CC)

Airbnb Apologizes for Ads Referencing Hotel Taxes

The multibillion dollar lodging startup Airbnb has apologized for a series of forthright ads they placed on bus shelters throughout the Bay Area that tell municipal agencies in San Francisco what they can do with the millions in city hotel taxes their company is paying.

Airbnb ad in San Francisco

Hillary Clinton’s Big Speech Leaves Uber and Airbnb’s Future in Limbo

Hillary Clinton just laid out her economic agenda, and ambiguous statements about companies like Uber and Airbnb leave the entire sharing economy industry in limbo. Clinton said she “vows to crack down on employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors.” She also noted that the “so-called gig economy offers exciting opportunities but raises hard questions about workplace protections and what a good job will look like in the future.”

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Millennial Shock: Hillary to Attack Uber, Airbnb, ‘Sharing Economy’

In a speech laying out her economic policy, Hillary Clinton is set to attack companies like Uber and Airbnb in the “sharing economy” or “contractor economy,” arguing that such companies undercut wages. Her proposed alternative is to use government regulations to guide economic activity. Previews of her speech have set off alarm bells in Silicon Valley, and are sure to surprise millennial consumers, whose loyalty to the Democratic Party has has largely been blind, and who presumed that the party of government shared their love for technology.

hillary clinton sunglasses blackberry Kevin Lamarque AP

Airbnb Calls SF Led Union Ballot Measure a ‘Trojan Horse’

In response to San Francisco’s new vacation-rental law to allow unlimited short-term rentals when a host is present, a powerful group of unions, landlords, housing activists and traditional hotels are preparing a November ballot initiative to severely constrict Airbnb and other “sharing economy” companies’ ability to help individuals secure short–term rentals from part or all of their homes or apartments.

Airbnb Pride (Quinn Dombrowski / Flickr / CC)

California Plans to Tax Airbnb; Company Fights Back

For California cities and counties, Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) for short-term hotel rentals rose from $1.38 billion in 2010 to $1.67 billion in 2012. Collection of the 13 percent average tax on short-term occupancies would have been much higher, except that Airbnb online rentals has never collected a dime. Now, State Senator Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) os pushing Senate Bill 593 legislation to require “online vacation rental sites” to collect TOT and report big data–such as number of guests or length of stay– to cities and counties. And Airbnb and hosts are warning about consumer privacy.

Airbnb Pride (Quinn Dombrowski / Flickr / CC)