The site was founded in August 2008 by Nathan Blecharczyk, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia.

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Chesky talks in terms of a movement: to offer the world unique spaces and experiences.

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Hilton Hotels, which Chesky says is the biggest hotel chain on Earth, has 600, 000 rooms.

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"We felt paralyzed and over the last four weeks, we have really screwed things up, " Chesky wrote.

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"We let her down, and for that we are very sorry, " Chesky wrote of EJ's experience in his blog post.

CNN: Airbnb apologizes: 'We have really screwed things up'

Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk, who founded the company in 2008, also stand to gain from the potential new investment.

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Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is staring at some serious growth ahead.

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Chesky outlined some safety improvements last week in a guest column on the blog TechCrunch, but over the weekend, another Airbnb user came forward with an alleged rental horror story.

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Brian Chesky, CEO and co-founder of the site, called the days since reports of theft and damage to one host's San Francisco home surfaced "a crash course in crisis management" in a blog post on Airbnb.

CNN: Airbnb apologizes: 'We have really screwed things up'

The genesis of the modern-day share economy is best traced to San Francisco in 2008, where Chesky and Joe Gebbia, recent Rhode Island School of Design graduates who had fled west, thought they could make some pocket cash by housing attendees at an industrial design conference on air beds in their apartment.

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