Dive Brief:
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Expedia Group CEO Mark Okerstrom and CFO Alan Pickerill resigned this week, the online travel company announced Wednesday.
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Chairman Barry Diller and Vice Chairman Peter Kern are stepping in to oversee the executive leadership team and manage day-to-day operations while the board devises a long-term leadership plan, the company said.
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Chief Strategy Officer Eric Hart will serve as acting CFO and Ariane Gorin, president of partner solutions, will be promoted to president of business services.
Dive Insight:
Disagreements over strategy between senior management and the Expedia board led to the leadership changes, Diller said in a letter to employees.
The company is undergoing a large-scale reorganization to simplify its brand portfolio, CNBC said.
The reorganization, "while sound in concept, resulted in a material loss of focus on our current operations, leading to disappointing third quarter results and a lackluster near-term outlook," Diller said. "The Board disagreed with that outlook, as well as the departing leadership's vision for growth, strongly believing the Company can accelerate growth in 2020. That divergence necessitated a change in management."
The joint resignation comes after several months of struggle for the online travel agency. Skift reported on the negative financial impact of Expedia's shift toward higher-cost marketing channels, as well as the company's lowered earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) growth guidance to 5% from 8%.
Kern said that although he and Diller "share and understand the investment community's unhappiness with our third quarter results and how 2019 has shaped up overall," they are "keenly focused on the future and all of the opportunities ahead of us."
Kern said he and Diller intend to use Expedia's strong balance sheet "to amplify our stock repurchase program, given our belief that the market currently undervalues our company."
Expedia shares shot up nearly 7% in pre-market trading following the announcement, Skift reported.
