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Comment by godelmachine | Hacker News Reader

>>the board of directors reduced Mr. Chesky’s base salary from $110,000 to $1, set his target bonus at $0, and granted him a long-term, multi-year equity award comprised of 12,000,000 RSUs (the “Multi-Year Award”).

Its quite surprising that CEO of Airbnb should make just $110k/ annum in base salary before the company goes public. I would expect it to be around $500k.

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He has almost certainly sold stock already. $110k rounds to zero compared to even just this RSU grant. The salary is symbolic

It's much more tax efficient for Chesky to get loans against his equity in lieu of cash compensation -- especially if he believes that the equity will grow dramatically in value due to an IPO.

Hi! Random q, but where could I read more on this specific topic? :)

For public securities, margin or a pledged asset line. If it's private equity (structured lending), you'll need to speak with a banker who can structure a deal specifically for you based on an illiquid PE holding.

Thank you :)

Take a look at PAL, pledged asset lines or margin loans.

Thx! :)

I've heard this before, but what advantage does the loan have? Doesn't the CEO still pay just as much tax when he/she sells the stock to pay down the loan? Is it just to allow the stock a chance to appreciate?

I'd guess just savings on paying capital gains tax vs income tax?

It's to capture future possible growth and defer taxes into the future.

Also the high paid CEO tax of SF likely means he can avoid the tax in future years by granting a lot today...

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/11/overpaid-executi...

as I understand it the value of the RSUs is on the _grant date_ for such purposes. (and not at vesting)

That's not how taxes on RSUs work (at least federally in the US). Nothing happens when RSUs are granted because they have no value until they vest. Once the RSUs vest, you are taxed based on the cost basis of $0 (since you pay nothing for RSUs).

Options on the other hand are a different beast.

correct I was referring to the rules, according to a 3rd party, for the SF tax

He's got a place to live, and food to eat, and he spends 200% of his time at work. At that point money is really just a thing that idles in the bank.

No, money is the thing you use to allow yourself to spend 200% of your time at work. Private tutors to school your kids so you don't have to. Cleaning services so you don't have to spend time cleaning. First class plane tickets so you can relax, sleep or work on the flight. Private driver or Ubers so you can work while driving places. A personal assistant to book travel, appointments and everything else mentioned so far.

I'm sure he has an EA at the company's expense at this point.

None of the items you mentioned cost much

> None of the items you mentioned cost much

The average private driver salary's in NYC is about 60k a year according to Google btw[0]. The average yearly -household- income in the US is 68k.

It's a massive luxury to be able to afford such a thing.

[0]: https://www.quora.com/How-much-does-a-full-time-driver-cost-...

"or Ubers"

Uber XL or black (need space and comfort to work efficiently) for 1 hour a day probably adds up to $200/day or around $50k/year. Which isn't cheap.

edit: That's a rough estimate and probably a low estimate. You'd be using Uber for commuting, going to work social events, driving kids on weekends, driving out of the city on vacation, etc.

>The average private driver salary's is about 60k a year according to Google btw

Wow, that's crazy. I pay 28000USD/yr in London, most of my friends pay about the same.

Wow, you're lowballing your chauffeur... Explains why mine loves working with me.

Presumably this would be a perk provided by Airbnb directly rather than employed by the CEO himself?

> he spends 200% of his time at work

Perhaps the money goes towards cloning costs?

Or some kind of space-time warp drive

That's not at all how most rich people behave. They want more money, and they wanna make sure nothing stops them from getting even more.

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