CEOs of Expedia and Priceline Group — What Have You Done for Me Lately?
Skift Take
The Priceline Group is in the catbird seat in online travel — for now — while Expedia is a much smaller company with so much ground to make up. Expedia's Okerstrom is laudably talking tough about his ambitions to propel his company forward. But 2017, so far, has been anything but easy for the two newbie CEOs.
The CEOs of the Priceline Group and Expedia have been top executives at their respective companies for years, but both are relatively new to the top slot at their firms.
Glenn Fogel of the Priceline Group became CEO January 1, taking over from interim boss Jeffery Boyd, and Mark Okerstrom is only a little more than two months into calling the shots, finding himself in the proverbial corner office after predecessor Dara Khosrowshahi left to steer Uber.
Both have tough acts to follow as their predecessors — especially Boyd at Priceline — took their companies to new heights.
Fogel and Okerstrom will face challenges that the entire online travel sector will likewise have to confront in coming years, including everything from artificial intelligence and voice-based search to perhaps blockchain as a distribution game-changer and disruptive up-and-coming companies. These unruly influences might come in the form of Airbnb, Google, Apple, Facebook, Ctrip, Alibaba, and many others, both known quantities and as-yet unidentified ones in the wings.
The duo, though, will have to deal with company-specific headwinds as they try to break through them, and craft solutio
