Airbnb poaches Amazon exec for CFO, Cyber Monday hits record sales, and Ohio becomes first state to accept bitcoin payments.
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First up from LinkedIn: Airbnb has named Dave Stephenson as its new chief financial officer or CFO. The move comes ahead of the home-sharing company’s planned IPO, set to happen sometime before 2020. Airbnb has been without a CFO since February when Laurence Tosi left amid tensions. Stephenson is a long-time Amazon executive, with a 17 year-long career with the e-commerce giant. Mostly recently as the vice president of global website sales. He is set to join Airbnb in January. This is the second Amazon exec Airbnb has hired this year. After former Prime VP Greg Greeley made the move in March.
Next up trending on Twitter: Rounding out a long weekend of shopping and deals, Cyber Monday hits record sales. The annual online shopping holiday generated more than $7.8 billion in sales this year in the U.S. alone. This beats out Black Friday online sales which also hit a record, pulling in $6.22 billion. The numbers come from Adobe Analytics which measures transactions from 80 of the top 100 online U.S. retailers. While exact sales numbers in Canada may still be out, if Twitter is any indication, the ‘holiday’ is gaining traction. More Canadians than ever were expressing interest in #CyberMonday than ever before, so it seems like the shopping holiday was top of mind for Canadians as well. Just a reminder today actually marks Giving Tuesday which encourages people to give to organizations, charities and initiatives that are making a difference.
Finally from LinkedIn: Ohio has become the first U.S. state accept cryptocurrency. According to The Wall Street Journal, it is going to allow businesses to pay taxes using cryptocurrency. Starting this week Ohio businesses will be able to register to pay taxes with bitcoin. The State Treasurer says the new policy gives Ohio a place in crypto history. Apparently Arizona, Georgia, and Illinois have also considered similar payment options, but without success. The announcement comes the same day as news comes that Bitcoin plummeted, losing almost a third of its value over the past week, dipping below $4,000.