Online travel company, Expedia, will slash about 3,000 jobs worldwide following unsatisfactory performance last year. The Company’s websites are mainly travel aggregators and search engines, such as Hotels.com, Hotwire, Travelocity, Cheaptickets, Egencia and CarRentals.com. The Company admits to having realised that it was trying to grow in a very disorganised and “undisciplined” manner, and will now focus clearly and simplify the business.
The Company now wishes to make customers and partners its top priority. Apparently, Barry Diller, chairman, Expedia, had revealed that many of the staff members were not even aware of what they were supposed to do during the day. Expedia will be aiming to save $300 to $500 million this year, and the job cuts are part of the strategy to accomplish this target. The Company will stop some projects and activities, and hencefort, also rely less on vendors and contractors.
By slashing 3000 jobs, the Company will be eliminating approx. 12 per cent of the workforce. About 500 employees at its headquarters in Seattle will be impacted.
Last year, Expedia’s sales had gone up by eight percent, its net income had increased by four per cent and earnings per share by six per cent. By December 2019, the Company had 25,400 workers worldwide.
However, in the last quarter, net profit dipped four per cent and earnings per share also fell by one per cent.
Mark Okserstorm, CEO, and Alan Pickerill, CFO had quit in early December, following poor performance in the third-quarter.
