Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern will step down in May, the travel giant announced Thursday. He will be replaced by Ariane Gorin, currently president of Expedia for Business.
Kern will continue to serve as the company’s vice chairman and remain on its board, which he has been on since 2005.
Kern took over as CEO in the early stages of the pandemic, which torpedoed the travel market and crushed Expedia’s business. The company had also gone through a management shakeup the year prior.
But the Seattle-based company has rebounded and its stock is now trading at above pre-pandemic levels. Expedia on Thursday reported revenue of $12.8 billion in 2023, up 10% from the prior year, and adjusted net income of $1.4 billion.
The company beat fourth quarter estimates but shares were down 10% in after-hours trading.
Gorin first joined Expedia in 2013 after a decade-long stint with Microsoft. She is currently on the board at Adecco Group and serves on the advisory council of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Gorin, a member of Expedia’s senior leadership team since 2015, will join the Expedia board as a result of her new role. She will be paid an annual base salary of $1.25 million.
The company wanted an internal exec to succeed Kern and determined that Gorin “was the best candidate given her exemplary leadership,” Expedia Chairman Barry Diller said in a statement.
Expedia for Business, which includes supply partnerships with large travel brands and other B2B-related arms, saw a 33% increase in year-over-year revenue in 2023.
Expedia Group includes major travel brands such as vrbo, Orbitz, Hotwire, Trivago, Hotels.com, and Egencia in addition to the flagship Expedia.com.
The company has invested in technology initiatives in recent years to completely rework its platform and become a technology provider beyond its own sites and brands, further expanding the reach of what it calls its “Travel OS” platform.
Expedia in 2022 announced plans to offer a series of technology “micro-services” allowing its partners to pick and choose among its services rather than adopt its larger technology stack.
The company unveiled various AI and machine learning projects at its annual partner conference last year.
