The magazine, called Pineapple, was launched in November last year and was intended to become a quarterly publication, showcasing stories about local Airbnb communities. The first issue comprised 128 pages and covered stories in three popular Airbnb locations – London, Seoul and San Francisco.
But according to the Wall Street Journal, Airbnb may change tack and partner with publishing company Hearst.
Sources speaking to the newspaper said the pair could launch a new magazine as a joint venture, though the talks could still fall through. It isn’t clear whether the new magazine would be branded Pineapple, but it’s likely to look like a conventional travel magazine, rather than continue Pineapple’s user-generated aesthetic.
According to the Wall Street Journal, chief marketing officer Jonathan Mildenhall has decided to divert budget from Pineapple to other marketing activities. Mildenhall did not respond to a request for comment.
Most of the editorial staff who worked on Pineapple were freelance. The magazine’s editor-in-chief, Alex Tieghi-Walker, left Airbnb in April this year, and now works at Vice, according to his LinkedIn profile. The magazine’s publisher and Airbnb’s former communications director in EMEA, Chris Lukezic, still works at the company.
An Airbnb spokeswoman said: "We're incredibly proud of Pineapple and the strong reception it received.
"Those who have launched a magazine know what an iterative process it is -- from vision, to content, to distribution. Like all world-class marketing organizations, we are constantly reviewing and evaluating ways to curate and celebrate the stories that are relevant to our business, and the future of Pineapple is part of those discussions."
