Airbnb's (Not So) Secret Weapon

Touted as the Sheryl Sandberg of Airbnb, Belinda Johnson, the company’s highest-ranking woman, is the quiet force shaping its path to global domination

- Colleen Mckeegan

Since launching nearly a decade ago, Airbnb has had its fair share of issues. Yet unlike some of the company’s peers in the sharing economy, Airbnb has avoided any lasting damage to its reputation. Many credit cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky’s ambitious optimism, but there’s another school of thought: It’s because he’s had Belinda Johnson by his side for the past six years.

When I meet Johnson, the company’s chief business affairs and legal officer, at Airbnb headquarters—a far cry from the staid white-shoe law firms where she started her career—she is wearing a peasant blouse and flared jeans. Her polished professionalism belies the fact that she’s the behind-the-scenes operator fighting many of Airbnb’s biggest challenges.

Airbnb hosts have been slapped with steep fines ranging from $1,000 to $25,000 and sued by their own cities. Hoteliers have lobbied cities to regulate the platform’s expansion. In June 2016, the company filed its first lawsuit as a plaintiff—against its hometown, San Francisco; the city had passed legislation that allowed it to charge Airbnb $1,000 a day for every host who wasn’t registered as a landlord with the city. Johnson encouraged a hesitant Chesky to approve that first lawsuit, claiming it was necessary if the company was going to continue operating in certain cities. Airbnb has since sued Santa Monica and Anaheim, California; Miami; and New York City—moves that led to looser regulations for Airbnb (in New York, for instance, the city can go after hosts but not after Airbnb itself).