US: Expedia Group has announced that former CEO Peter Kern is stepping down from his role as vice chairman and has left the group’s board with immediate effect.
The news was confirmed in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. It said that the two parties had agreed that Kern’s service as vice chairman would end on 10 September “given the speed and success of the company’s recent management transition”.
In February, Expedia Group announced that Kern would step down as CEO in May, and that he would be succeeded by Ariane Gorin, the company’s then-president of Expedia for Business.
Shortly afterwards, the firm trimmed its global workforce by around 1,500 jobs, accounting for nine per cent of Expedia Group’s overall headcount, as part of a restructuring and cost-cutting measure. Most of the roles affected within the operational review were in Expedia Group’s product and technology division.
Beyond May, it was revealed that Kern would complete his contract before continuing to serve as vice chairman and member of the board of directors, working closely with Gorin to ensure a smooth transition.
Kern had served as a board member since 2005, vice chairman since 2018, and CEO of Expedia Group since 2020, taking over from Mark Okerstrom, who resigned abruptly the previous December over reported disagreements with the company’s board on strategy.
At the same time, the group raised $3.2 billion, made up of $2 billion in debt financing and $1.2 billion in equity investment injected by Apollo Global Management and Silver Lake Partners.
Meanwhile, Gorin was elected to serve on the company’s board of directors, having held various executive roles at Expedia Group since 2013. As president of Expedia for Business, she helped the company to grow its B2B revenue by 33 per cent between 2022 and 2023, and led its global supply partner group, advertising business and B2B partner network.
Speaking at Expedia Group’s Explore conference in Las Vegas, Gorin outlined her ambitions to drive international growth and accelerate its B2C business by continuing the rollout of the group’s One Key loyalty programme and venturing further into AI for trip personalisation.
Despite a softening in travel demand, Gorin steered the group to some encouraging Q2 results, notably a six per cent year-over-year uptick in total gross bookings and “modest” growth for rental brand Vrbo.
However, her tenure was also marked by some early turbulence when, no sooner had she left the Explore stage, Expedia Group announced the firing of CTO Rathi Murthy and SVP Sreenivas Rachamadugu due to “a violation of company policy”. The reasons for their departures have not been made public.
Last year, Expedia Group launched its One Key loyalty programme to unify its three flagship brands [Expedia, Hotels.com and vacation rental brand Vrbo] into one flexible travel rewards experience, which is currently available in the United States and will become available globally soon.
ShortTermRentalz is hosting a webinar in partnership with Vrbo on ‘The [One] Key to unlocking loyalty in the vacation rental industry’ on Tuesday 17 September at 4pm BST. Speakers include Tim Rosolio [Expedia Group], Merilee Karr [UnderTheDoormat Group] and Ben Wolff [Onera and Oasi] – sign up at no cost here.
