The Finance head Alan Pickerill and the Chief Executive Officer Mark Okerstrom of Expedia Group Inc have resigned to their position. They left immediately after disagreeing with the board over its business opportunity on the online travel company, said Barry Diller, chairman of Expedia Group on Wednesday.
Barry Diller also chairs Expedia’s former parent InterActiveCorp (IAC). He also said that until the board finds a replacement, he would be overseeing the team of executive leadership along with Vice Chairman Peter Kern.
“Ultimately, the board and the senior management disagreed on the strategy,” Diller said in a statement. As earlier this year, Expedia undertook a plan of reorganization intending to bring together its various technologies and brands in a much more effective way. It resulted in a considerable loss of focus on the current operations of the company. This lead to a disappointment in the third-quarter results and an obscure near-term opportunity.
Diller, 77, also said that he would be purchasing shares furthermore in Expedia by showing his faith in the company and committing to the long term future of the company.
After the surprise resignation of the CFO Alan Pickerill and CEO Mark Okerstrom, the company’s share value, which was dropped by 12% this year, has increased by nearly up to 8% to $107.04. Finally, the stock has closed with a 6.2% hike at $105.56.
Expedia, the Seattle-based company, was facing high competition from Booking.com, Airbnb, and Google as well, which is draining the search traffic of the company. Expedia is also making high investments into its own vacation rental business Vrbo.
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