[jasode]

>Airbnb: we don't need to own hotel properties and employ managers and housekeepers

Fyi because this is a common misunderstanding: Hotel chains like Marriott, Hilton, Four Seasons, etc also do not own most of their physical properties[1]. They are primarily management companies instead of owning a portfolio of real estate. If you see a Hilton logo on the side of a building, it doesn't mean that Hilton actually owns it. The logo is there because they have a long-term contract to manage the hotel for the real owners of that property.

>Amazon: we don't need to own retail stores or inventory

Amazon isn't a totally "virtual" company. Amazon owns (or leases) physical distribution centers instead of retail stores. They've always paid sales taxes based on nexus of those DCs. What's recently changed (circa 2017?) was collecting sales taxes on behalf of 3rd-party marketplace sellers.

[1] https://www.quora.com/Do-hotel-chains-like-Hilton-Mandarin-o...