Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) stock is on the rise Wednesday after announcing a couple of leadership changes.
An Expedia news release details the changes at the travel technology company. This includes the departure of CEO Mark Okerstrom and CFO Alan Pickerill. Okerstrom is also leaving behind his position on the Board of Directors at EXPE.
The resignations of the Expedia CEO and CFO are effective immediately. Expedia doesn’t yet have a permanent replacement for Okerstom. However, Chairman of the Board Barry Diller and Vice Chairman Peter Kern will be overseeing the company’s leadership team while it works on a solution.
When it comes to the CFO role, Chief Strategy Officer Eric Hart is taking over that position. At the same time, President of Expedia Partner Solutions Ariane Gorin is being promoted to President of Expedia Business Services. This will expand their responsibilities at the company.
Diller has this to say about the Expedia news concerning Okerstrom and Pickerill.
“Ultimately, senior management and the Board disagreed on strategy. Earlier this year, Expedia embarked on an ambitious reorganization plan with the goal of bringing our brands and technology together in a more efficient way. This 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. 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.”
EXPE stock was up 6.19% as of Wednesday afternoon.
As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
