Entrepreneur Joe Gebbia is one of the founders of Airbnb. It currently has a net worth of US$ 6.1 billion. As reported by the Argentine portal Perfil, the co-founder of the temporary accommodation platform, acquired three apartments in an exclusive Manantiales complex. This is The Colette, a luxury real estate development that was completed during the pandemic.
According to the North American publication Forbes, Gebbia owns 9% of Airbnb and recently joined the Tesla board.
Joe Gebbia’s past with Uruguay
Although Gebbia now made his link with Uruguay official through the purchase of these properties, the millionaire has a particular story that unites him with this country.
It all started when the writer and creator of the Orsai blog, Hernán Casciari, suffered a heart attack in Montevideo in December 2015 and saved his life thanks to the speed with which the couple he was staying with through the Airbnb platform acted.
Javier Artigas, the Uruguayan who had offered Casciari lodging when he had a heart attack, took him and his wife Alejandra Oddone quickly to the Hospital de Clínicas. But the stoy did not end there.
Based on the repercussion of that episode —and Casciari’s spectacular review on the app— the Airbnb co-founder contacted Javier Artigas to visit him in Uruguay.
Those of Airbnb invite me to evaluate the host of the house I rented in Montevideo. I wrote the truth: pic.twitter.com/rD6Mpa2xr5
—Hernan Casciari (@casciari) December 11, 2015
Artigas —who was on his way to his vacation in Playa Verde— thought it was a joke, but minutes later the millionaire businessman would confirm that he had obtained his ticket, which made him quickly turn around to return home to receive it. Joe Gebbia not only visited Montevideo at the beginning of 2016, but later ended up investing in the Uruguayan venture Connectus Medical (initiated by Javier Artigas).
In 2020, Casciari confirmed on social networks that Disney will take this story told in his book “the best heart attack of my life” to the big screen.
