BELLEVUE, Wash., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Expedia, Inc.
(Nasdaq: EXPE), the world's leading online travel company, announced a new
organizational structure that aligns its worldwide brands and technology
functions to best support more than 60 global points of sale in more than 40
countries.
During the past decade, Expedia, Inc.'s international operations have
transformed from nascent geographic footholds to become sizeable, high growth
businesses supporting its global marketplace strategy. Beginning today, the
company is structuring its teams around worldwide operations for the
Expedia.com, hotels.com, and Expedia Distribution divisions. This change
allows the businesses to align with worldwide brands and technology, rather
than align based on geographic regions.
"Our objective is to build the world's largest and most intelligent travel
marketplace," said Dara Khosrowshahi, Expedia, Inc.'s CEO and president.
"Improving our organizational structure will allow us to react more quickly to
evolving global markets, more flexibly address traveler needs and better
leverage the expertise of our leaders."
Leading the company's worldwide teams are:
-- Eric Grosse -- President, Expedia Worldwide. This group is responsible
for Expedia.com in the U.S., all Expedia worldwide sites, and the Media
Services Group. Grosse was previously president and co-founder of The Hotwire
Group. Prior to founding Hotwire in 2000, Grosse was with Morgan Stanley and
also worked in Internet research at DMG Technology Group, where he helped lead
the Amazon.com IPO.
-- David Roche -- President, hotels.com Worldwide and Venere.com. This
group is responsible for the global hotels.com points of sale, including the
recent acquisition of Europe-based Venere.com. Roche joined Expedia in 2003 to
lead the hotels.com and Expedia Distribution businesses in the Europe, Middle
East & Africa regions. Prior to joining Expedia, Roche founded companies in
both the marketing and technology spheres.
-- Henrik Kjellberg -- President, Expedia Distribution Worldwide. This
team provides private label booking solutions for travel suppliers looking to
enhance and extend their product offerings. Kjellberg has been with Expedia
since 2001 and most recently led the Asia Pacific region. His other roles
include leading the Europe, Middle East & Africa team for the Partner Services
Group. Kjellberg has been on the board of directors for Expedia's majority-
owned eLong, Inc. (Nasdaq: LONG) since 2005 and will continue to act as
Chairman of eLong Board. Prior to joining Expedia, Kjellberg was with Spray, a
leading Swedish Internet portal, and with Procter & Gamble.
In addition to these structural changes, the company announced the
departure of Paul Brown and Dermot Halpin.
"Paul Brown has tirelessly served as the head of our Partner Services
Group and provided great leadership for our Expedia North America business,"
said Khosrowshahi. "He will be a great addition to the management team of
Hilton Hotels Corporation, as president of Global Brands and Shared Services."
Khosrowshahi continued: "As president of Expedia Europe, Dermot Halpin has
built our EMEA business from $2 billion in gross bookings to more than $4.5
billion in gross bookings in 32 countries. Through Dermot's leadership, we
have created real scale in EMEA that has enabled us to realign our
organization along global brands. After year-end, Dermot will assume new
business interest and board positions in organizations outside Expedia, Inc."
"We thank Paul and Dermot for their efforts and wish them continued
success in their endeavors."
Brown will continue in the Partner Services Group role for a brief
transition period, after which the function will report directly to
Khosrowshahi while Expedia conducts an internal and external search for a new
leader.
Expedia, Inc.'s other businesses, Trip Advisor, Egencia, Hotwire, and
Classic Vacations will not be affected by these changes.
About Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc. is the world's leading online travel company, empowering
business and leisure travelers with the tools and information they need to
easily research, plan, book and experience travel. Expedia, Inc. also provides
in-destination concierge service and activity desks for travelers. The
Expedia, Inc. portfolio of brands includes: Expedia.com, hotels.com, Hotwire,
Egencia (formerly Expedia Corporate Travel), TripAdvisor, Expedia Local
Expert, Classic Vacations and eLong. Expedia, Inc.'s companies operate more
than 60 global points of sale in more than 40 countries, with sites in North
America, South America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-
Pacific. Expedia, Inc. is a component of the S&P 500 index. For more
information, visit http://www.expediainc.com/ (NASDAQ: EXPE).
Expedia is a registered trademark of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or
other countries. hotels.com is either a trademark or registered trademark of
hotels.com, L.P., a subsidiary of hotels.com in the U.S. and/or other
countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be
the property of their respective owners.
(C) 2008 Expedia, Inc. All rights reserved. CST: 2029030-40
