Expedia to Lay Off 1,500 – Nearly 9% of Workforce

Expedia Group announced late Monday that it began notifying 1,500 employees that they would be laid off “in light of the Company’s organizational and technological transformation.”

These job cuts include 208 Expedia Group employees in headquarters city Seattle, according to a WARN notice. Those layoffs are expected to start May 1. The layoffs will also take 64 jobs in Austin, Texas, which means some of these likely are coming from Expedia’s Vrbo unit.

Expedia Group had 17,100 employees at the end of 2023, and so these new cuts amount to around 8.7% of the workforce.

“Given the recent completion of many significant technical milestones in Expedia Group’s transformation, the business continues to evaluate the appropriate allocation of resources to ensure the most important work continues to be prioritized. As a result, this year we will be reviewing our operations which we expect will result in approximately 1,500 roles being impacted across the globe. While this review will result in the elimination of some roles, it also allows the company to invest in core strategic areas for growth,” an Expedia Group spokesperson said Monday.

The Expedia Group announcement said the company would record $80 million to $100 million in pre-tax charges and cash expenditures in 2024 tied to the restructuring actions. Most of this comes from severance and other benefits compensation expenses, the company said.

Expedia carried out at least two rounds of layoffs in 2023, including one in October that impacted around 100 staffers.

Expedia Group Chief Financial Officer Julie Whalen during the company’s February 8 earnings call mentioned that $80 million to $100 million one-time charges would be coming now that the company finished its tech re-platforming.

Expedia Group had finished transitioning the Hotels.com and Vrbo back end onto the Expedia.com tech platform.

“And with overhead expenses, as we have said, we expect to drive savings this year as we deprecate systems and redeploy resources now that the bulk of our re-platforming is in the rearview mirror. These efficiencies and overhead will also translate over to reduced CapEx levels,” Whalen said February 8. “Overall, we are taking a very close look at streamlining our cost structure to align with the next phase of our journey. And based on our initial estimates, these actions are expected to result in approximately $80 million to $100 million in one-time GAAP expenses on the year, heavily weighted towards the first quarter. We are still finalizing the details, but we expect to have more to share this quarter.”

These latest cuts come as CEO Peter Kern gets ready to hand over his CEO duties to Ariane Gorin May 13.

Note: This story was updated to include information about how many staffers in Seattle will be laid off.