Expedia Group informed an unspecified number of workers in its technology organization Thursday that it’s eliminating their positions, the latest in a series of moves by the Seattle-based travel giant to overhaul its workforce.
Those impacted by the cutbacks include employees in Expedia Group’s Traveler Products team, which is part of Expedia Group Chief Technology Officer Rathi Murthy’s larger Product & Technology organization.
“As we have begun looking to 2024, it is important that we are ready to ‘Build the world’s most loved AI powered travel apps.’ These changes to our org will help us take the next steps to move quickly and stay tightly aligned while simplifying where we can,” said Tript Singh Lamba, an Expedia Group senior vice president, alluding to the layoffs in an internal message Thursday evening, obtained by GeekWire.
The primary focus of the internal email was not the cutbacks among rank-and-file employees but a series of changes in executive leadership, including one departure and one new hire.
- Eric Toyofuku, VP of research and advocacy, is leaving Expedia Group to pursue other opportunities, according to the email.
- Jonathan Finch, former Global CTO for Amazon Insurance, is joining Expedia Group and will lead its InsurTech business.
The company acknowledged that it made cuts but did not provide specifics, including the number of employees impacted by the layoffs, in response to questions from GeekWire on Thursday afternoon.
“We are committed to delivering great travel experiences for our customers as demand remains high,” a spokesperson said. “As we align operations to our business transformation, this has resulted in the elimination of some roles. We remain confident in our strategy and value the contribution of all our employees.”
The company has made targeted layoffs at various points this year. Expedia Group made more widespread cutbacks as part of a restructuring just before the pandemic, when the travel industry was rocked by COVID-19 restrictions.
At the same time, Expedia Group has continued to hire for some technology roles, capitalizing in some instances on layoffs by major tech companies earlier this year.
After peaking at more than 25,000 employees in 2019, the company employed 14,800 people at the end of 2021, nearly half of them in tech-related positions. That rose to 16,500 at the end of 2022, more than half in tech roles. Expedia Group said previously that a new employee count won’t be disclosed publicly until the end of the year.
Due in part to its increased employment and compensation expenses, Expedia Group reported that overhead expenses rose 14% in the second quarter to $627 million. Still, with record revenue of $3.36 billion, up more than 5%, the company was able to post a $385 million profit in the quarter, from a $185 million loss a year earlier.
Expedia Group includes brands such as vrbo, Orbitz, Hotwire, Trivago, and Hotels.com in addition to the flagship Expedia.com. The company has combined the tech platform beneath its different brands in recent years, and recently launched a unified travel loyalty program called One Key for Expedia, Hotels.com and vrbo.
Updated to correct the timing of Expedia’s February 2020 cutbacks.
