Expedia CEO, Mark Okerstrom resigned. Okerstrom has been CEO for a little over two years, but served the company for over a decade. Both Trivago CEO, Rolf Schrömgens, and Expedia CFO, Alan Pickerill, did the same. Okerstrom was promoted from CFO to CEO in August 2017, replacing Dara Khosrowshahi, who took the CEO job at Uber. Board chairman Barry Diller explained that “senior management and the Board disagreed on strategy,” and that the company experienced a “loss of focus (…), leading to disappointing third-quarter results.” The change in management was welcomed by investors, as the company share price climbed by 6% after the official statement. The change in Expedia management was welcomed by investors My two cents? whoever is going to take Okerstrom’s job, will have to deal with at least five main issues:
1. Google pushing organic results lower in SERPs / Higher marketing costs
2. Trivago underperforming
3. HomeAway’s disastrous rebrand to Vrbo
4. Lack of significant acquisitions
5. Booking Holdings’ more solid branding strategy