Expedia Group

Expedia Group, Inc.
TypePublic
ISINUS65248E2037
IndustryTravel technology
PredecessorLiberty Expedia Holdings
FoundedOctober 22, 1996; 26 years ago (1996-10-22) (as a division of Microsoft)
FounderRich Barton
HeadquartersSeattle, Washington, United States
Key people
  • Barry Diller
  • (Chairman and Senior Executive)
  • Peter Kern
  • (Vice Chairman and CEO)
Products
RevenueIncrease US$11.67 billion (2022)
Increase US$1.085 billion (2022)
Increase US$352 million (2022)
Total assetsIncrease US$21.56 billion (2022)
Total equityIncrease US$2.28 billion (2022)
Number of employees
16,500 (December 31, 2022)
Websiteexpediagroup.com
Footnotes / references

Expedia Group, Inc. is an American travel technology company that owns and operates travel fare aggregators and travel metasearch engines, including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Vrbo, Travelocity, Hotwire.com, Orbitz, Ebookers, CheapTickets, CarRentals.com, Expedia Cruises, Wotif, and Trivago. Over 3 million lodging facilities and flights on over 500 airlines are bookable on the company's websites. It has 16,500 employees, and its headquarters are located in Seattle, Washington.

The word "Expedia" is derived from a combination of "exploration" and "speed".

History

Founded as a division of Microsoft in October 1996, Expedia was spun off into a public company in 1999. IAC, known at the time as USA Networks Inc, acquired a controlling interest in the company in 2001 and acquired the remainder of the company in 2003. In August 2005, IAC spun off the company. In December 2011, Expedia, Inc. spun off TripAdvisor.

Management history

In 2003, Rich Barton resigned as CEO and was replaced by Erik Blachford.

In December 2004, Dara Khosrowshahi was announced as CEO.

In March 2017, Chelsea Clinton was named to the board of directors of Expedia, with compensation of $45,000 a year in cash, plus $250,000 a year in stock vesting over three years.

In August 2017, Mark Okerstrom became the President and CEO of Expedia, Inc.

In December 2019, Mark Okerstrom and Alan Pickerill resigned as CEO and CFO, respectively. At that time, Expedia Group's chairman, Barry Diller, took over day-to-day operations, while the Chief Strategy Officer, Eric Hart, became acting CFO.

In February 2020, Expedia announced it was cutting 3,000 jobs, roughly 12% of the workforce, citing a "disappointing 2019." Diller, in his role as acting CEO, stated the company had become "sclerotic and bloated" and that employees were "all life and no work."

In April 2020, Peter Kern was appointed as CEO of Expedia Group. He was the highest paid CEO in the S&P 500 in 2021, with $296 million in total compensation.

Office and headquarters history

In 2015, Expedia announced that it would move its headquarters to the Interbay neighborhood of Seattle, purchasing the Amgen campus on the Elliott Bay waterfront for $228.9 million and investing an additional $900 million on renovation and expansion of the 41-acre (17 ha) campus to 1.23 million square feet (114,000 m2). The first employees moved into the new headquarters in October 2019.

In 2021, Expedia built a new campus in DLF Cyber Park, Gurugram, India.

Acquisition history

Date Company Business Value (USD) References
March 17, 2000 Travelscape Internet service provider $89,750,000
March 17, 2001 Vacationspot Internet service provider $70,850,000
March 11, 2002 Classic Custom Vacations Travel agency $78,000,000
July 11, 2002 Metropolitan Travel Travel agency
October 28, 2002 Newtrade Technologies Reservation software
April 5, 2004 Activity World Travel and touring
April 12, 2004 Egencia Travel agency
July 15, 2008 Venere.com Hotel Booking Engine 200,000,000
October 18, 2010 Mobiata Mobile App Developer
April 27, 2012 VIA Travel Travel Management Company
March 12, 2013 trivago GmbH Hotel Metasearch Engine €477,000,000 in cash and stock
May 17, 2013 Go Adventure Pro Travel Agency $11,600,000
July 6, 2014 Wotif Travel Agency $657,000,000
October 10, 2014 The Ocean Adventures Travel Agency $10,600,000
January 14, 2015 Around the World Vacation Rentals Travel Agency $12,800,000
January 23, 2015 Travelocity Travel Agency $280,000,000
September 17, 2015 Orbitz Travel Agency $1.6 billion
November 4, 2015 HomeAway Holiday Rental Service $3.9 billion
October 25, 2018 Pillow Short-Term Rental Management
October 25, 2018 ApartmentJet Short-Term Rental Management
August 22, 2019 CanadaStays Holiday Rental Service

In July 2015, Expedia made an investment in Wingz.

Divestitures

Date Acquirer Target company Value (USD) References
April 10, 2005 Eviivo RezOvation and Webervations Unknown
March 1, 2021 Najafi Companies Classic Vacations Unknown
November 2, 2021 American Express Global Business Travel Egencia Unknown

Criticism and legal issues

Delays in refunds of flights cancelled due to COVID-19

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, customers complained regarding the process to get refunds for cancelled flights. Customers complained of excessively long call times and being unable to get through to a representative. This led to many lawsuits.

Involvement in Israeli settlements

On February 12, 2020, Expedia Group was included on a list of companies operating in West Bank settlements involved in activities that "raised particular human rights concerns" published by the United Nations Human Rights Council. The company was categorized under "the provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements". The international community considers Israeli settlements built on land occupied by Israel to be in violation of international law.

False advertising and trademark violation

In August 2016, Buckeye Tree Lodge and Sequoia Village Inn, LLC filed a class-action lawsuit in California accusing the company and its partners of violating trademark rights of numerous independent hotel and motel establishments by running advertising implying that consumers could book reservations for those hotels on Expedia even though Expedia had no relationship with those hotels, in violation of the Lanham Act, and also falsely noting that hotels with which the company had no relationship were "sold out". In April 2021, the lawsuit was settled and the company promised not to engage in false advertising.

Australian false advertising suit

South Carolina sales tax suit

In January 2011, Travelscape, a subsidiary of Expedia Inc. based in the Las Vegas Valley, was ordered to pay $6.3 million in back sales taxes to South Carolina by the South Carolina Supreme Court. Travelscape argued that South Carolina's efforts to tax online retailers located out-of-state violate the Dormant Commerce Clause. In a unanimous ruling, the court determined that, while Travelscape does not have physical facilities in South Carolina, frequent sales trips made by its employees and the fact that the company furnished hotel rooms in the state establish its presence for tax purposes and is sufficient to be required to pay sales tax.


This page was last updated at 2023-10-10 09:09 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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