News: Expedia is cutting down 12% of its workforce

C-Suite

Expedia is cutting down 12% of its workforce

About 3,000 jobs of Expedia's direct workforce will be affected, including about 500 people in Seattle.
Expedia is cutting down 12% of its workforce

Online travel company, Expedia group has announced cutting down 3,000 jobs stating “disappointing year” as a reason. 

Company executives sent an email announcing the writing “we recognize that we have been pursuing growth in an unhealthy and undisciplined way” and calling the company’s performance in 2019 “disappointing.”

According to media, in addition to eliminating 12 percent of its workforce, the company will also cut costs by ending unspecified projects and reducing its use of contractors and vendors.

Earlier in February, following the company’s Q4 earning, Chairman Barry Diller slammed the company’s processes and work ethic, saying it had become “sclerotic and bloated” and that employees were “all life and no work” for several years. During that call, the company said it was targeting $300 million to $500 million of run-rate cost savings across its business.

A spokesperson for Expedia said the following statement was sent Monday afternoon to its global workforce:

Following our disappointing 2019 business performance and our change in senior-most management, the Travel Leadership Team has spent the last few months determining a better way forward. A major reason for our management change was the deep belief from Barry, Peter, and the Board that while travel remains rich with opportunity, our Company needed a fresh and forward look at clarifying our strategy and simplifying our operations.

After consulting with leaders around the globe, we recognize that we have been pursuing growth in an unhealthy and undisciplined way. The accountability for our results lies with the Travel Leadership Team, and we are committed to fundamental changes in our approach to improve success. Moving forward, we will exert more discipline in setting priorities and allocating resources, simplify our business processes and inter-dependencies, raise the bar on performance standards, and demonstrate and demand accountability for results.

Today, we are announcing our intent to reduce and eliminate certain projects, activities, teams, and roles to streamline and focus our organization. In geographies where we have clarity, we will start implementing these intended changes this week by notifying individuals. In others, we will be initiating consultations with employees and their representatives to discuss our proposals.

Transitions like this are difficult as the impact is felt by teammates, colleagues, and friends we have known and partnered with through ups and downs. For those who will be leaving, we thank you for your many contributions to Expedia Group and wish you safe travels as you find your next opportunity. For the many who are continuing forward, travel is intensely competitive and demands our very best leadership, innovation, collaboration, and execution to win. This is what we are asking of you and demanding of ourselves, along with the day-to-day discipline that will make us a more nimble and thriving company for years to come.

Great tech companies have walked this same path in order to come back stronger and more competitive than ever. We have restarted the journey and bringing the world within reach is in our hands. Let’s redouble our efforts for our customers, our partners, our investors, and ourselves to make Expedia Group the successful, growing, and winning company we can all be proud of.

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Topics: C-Suite

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