Ex-White House aide Jay Carney leaves amazon to head global policy at airbnb

Jay Carney, a former White House press secretary, is leaving his role as Amazon.com Inc.’s head of global affairs to take the top policy job at Airbnb Inc.

Carney, 57, will fill the role previously held by Chris Lehane, who left earlier this year to join a cryptocurrency startup, Airbnb said on Friday. Carney previously served as press secretary for former President Barack Obama from 2011 to 2014. He will start at the vacation-rental company in the beginning of September and will be based in Washington.

His previous experience in government and at one of the biggest technology companies, in addition to the two decades he spent as a journalist, gives Carney “a deep understanding of the needs of multiple stakeholders,” Airbnb Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky said in a statement.

Managing policy is crucial for Airbnb, which navigates the legal and regulatory systems in more than 200 countries and regions and even more cities. In his seven years at Amazon, Carney built and ran the company’s global corporate affairs organization, reporting directly to CEO Jeff Bezos and then Andy Jassy. At Airbnb he joins the executive team and will report directly to Chesky.

While Airbnb has worked with cities to address regulatory issues, it still faces hurdles in some places, with Washington and New York enacting stricter rules on short-term rentals. New York is looking to tighten the rules further next year when a law goes into effect that will block payment processing for properties that aren’t registered with the city. New York sued a property owner who was illegally operating short-term bookings earlier this month, marking the first suit since a law was enacted to require Airbnb to report data to the city.

In Europe, cities such as Barcelona have banned short-term private-room rentals. In the UK, the government is considering restrictions on short-term rentals as part of a review of the impact portals like Airbnb are having on people living in popular tourist destinations, including London.

Carney’s time at Amazon was punctuated by some high-profile stumbles. In 2019, he criticized the Trump administration while speaking at a public event in Seattle and had to dial back his comments the following day by praising government officials on Twitter. That same year, Carney also made headlines for fat-shaming major league baseball umpires on his Twitter account while watching a game. He’s maintained a lower profile at Amazon in recent years.

Smooth operations and being on good terms with governments around the world is perhaps more important than ever for Airbnb as the company heads into the long-awaited summer travel season after two years of Covid-19 restrictions. Airbnb became a pandemic winner as employees took advantage of remote-work opportunities and sought out remote locations to live and work. Chesky himself declared that the pandemic ushered in a “golden age of travel” as employees were no longer required to report to offices. Bloomberg