US: Expedia Group has named Peter Kern and Eric Hart as its new CEO and CFO.
They take over from Mark Okerstrom and Alan Pickerill, who both resigned in December over reported disagreements with the company’s board on strategy.
AS well as the appointments, Expedia confirmed that it has raised $3.2 billion in incoming capital, made up of $2 billion in debt financing and $1.2 billion in equity investment from by Apollo Global Management and Silver Lake Partners. The latter recently participated in a $1 billion investment round for Airbnb, which was made up of debt and equity securities and supported by San Francisco-based Sixth Street Partners, while Apollo participated in a second $1 billion round loan of senior debt to Airbnb a week later.
Kern has served as vice chairman of the board since 2018 and has been assisting chairman Barry Diller on overseas operations since December. He has been a board member of Expedia since 2005 and has also served as chief executive of Tribune Media. Hart had been the acting CFO since Pickerill’s resignation four months ago.
Due to the severe financial implications of the Coronavirus pandemic, senior Expedia executives including Kern, otherwise known as the Travel Leadership Team, have approved a 25 per cent reduction in pay for the rest of the calendar year.
Furloughs across different departments have already been implemented, as well as reductions in weekly working days to some employee schedules, and the changes are likely to remain in place until at least 31 August, according to Diller.
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