The Profile: Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky

The beleaguered Airbnb chief executive has seen his fortunes finally turn with the huge success of his web platform’s initial public offering

Brian Chesky, founder of Airbnb: after a difficult year, the online booking company was valued at $42 billion when it floated on the stock market last Thursday

In brief:

Name: Brian Chesky

Age: 39

Appearance: perennially dressed in tech bro T-shirts, and usually smiling

Newsworthiness: Airbnb, the company he co-founded in 2008, went public last week

In depth:

Brian Chesky will likely always think of a cockroach when he looks back on the day his luck changed.

The insect, long hypothesised as being able to survive a nuclear winter, was the most appropriate analogy Paul Graham, a venture capitalist, could make when ...