Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of Airbnb and a close friend of Elon Musk, will become the newest member of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). The New York Times reported that a person familiar with the situation confirmed that Gebbia, who is a board member at Tesla, will soon join the federal government as part of Musk’s team in Doge.
While information about his precise function and level of formality in the role is lacking, his hiring is a serious shift from private industry to government work.
Who Is Joe Gebbia?
Joe Gebbia is an American entrepreneur and designer who is most famously known for co-founding Airbnb in 2008, a company that disrupted the hospitality sector by allowing homeowners to rent their homes to visitors. Born on August 21, 1981, in Atlanta, Georgia, he studied at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he received degrees in Graphic Design and Industrial Design. At RISD, he befriended Brian Chesky, with whom he would eventually start Airbnb.
Gebbia’s success in the technology sector has earned him a huge fortune. His net worth is valued at approximately $9 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with most of it coming from his stakes in Airbnb.
Political Shift: From Democrat to Republican
Gebbia was once a Democratic donor, having given more than $200,000 towards the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. As recently as 2023, he made a bid of $20,000 to fund Biden’s re-election campaign.
But his politics have moved in a Republican direction. He cites Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as an influence, regarding him as a political ally. Gebbia last month testified at Kennedy’s confirmation hearing, tweeting on X about a “big day ahead for the future of health in America.”
Accepting his change of political allegiance, Gebbia came up with a shocking admission during the November 2024 elections. “I did a bad thing. Something the younger me would hate myself for doing. Something that only a few people (and maybe ByteDance) know: I voted Republican last November,” he posted on X.
With his new position in Doge, Gebbia’s transformation from a technology entrepreneur into a government bureaucrat marks yet another high-profile corporate executive turning into public administration.
