Interview: Expedia's Comeback CEO on What It Will Take To Win
Skift Take
The online travel duopoly, The Priceline Group and Expedia Inc., remains in place. But as history and Expedia's turnaround show, the pecking order isn't necessarily going to stay this way over the long term.
In recent years, quarter after quarter, as the Priceline Group was thumping Expedia Inc. in terms of growth, you had to wonder sometimes how Expedia Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi was hanging onto his job.
It would have been extremely interesting during this period to eavesdrop on the conversations between Khosrowshahi and controlling shareholder, Barry Diller, about the company's performance.
But it's a different story these days for Expedia Inc. and Khosrowshahi, too, as the company, after investing heavily in a multi-year project to build and integrate its brands into a global technology platform, and fueled by organic growth and a slew of acquisitions over the last two years, including Trivago, Wotif, Auto Escape Group, Travelocity, and soon-to-be Orbitz Worldwide, is in the midst of a turnaround.
In a Skift interview about Expedia Inc.'s comeback story, Khosrowshahi talks about some of the "tough days" of the past and how he and his team "walked through the fire together."
Thanks to TripAdvisor and Steve Kaufer
"Listen, any time you're the CEO of a public company, especially in a field as competitive as the travel field, your job is on the line every day," Khosrowshahi said. "My job is on the line now."
Khosrowshahi, who was appointed CEO of IAC Travel, which included Expedia, in 2004, talked candidly last week about one of the factors that contributed to Expedia Inc.'s viability during a rough period and Khosrowshahi's tenure as CEO during that time.
"You know, having TripAdvisor as part of fold in those years really helped," Khosrowshahi said. "We had this incredible rocket ship of a business in our fold and TripAdvisor's growth allowed us, to some extent, to reinvest in the other parts of the business."
IAC acquired TripAdvisor in 2004 and Expedia Inc. spun off TripAdvisor into a public company in late 2011.
"I guess I have [TripAdvisor CEO] Steve Kaufer to thank," Khosrowshahi said. "Maybe he saved me my job. But having a portfolio, having different brands, allows you to invest in different parts of the business and TripAdvisor being a part of the family in those early years was a big part of where we are today."
Expedia Inc. -- and the Priceline Group -- are now TripAdvis
