US: Expedia Group looks to be heading towards another layoff round, as Travel Partners Group CEO Cyril Ranque announced further redundancies within the company.
The company laid off 12 per cent of its workforce earlier this year before the pandemic, in an attempt to manage a “bloated and sclerotic” workforce.
Travel Partners Group is a wing of Expedia Group which handles relations with its various hotel, airline, cruise, car, activities and destination partners. In an internal email exchange, it was revealed how Cyril Ranque had cited the need to continue the streamlining of operations in order to effectively compete.
Ranque wrote: “In locations where we have clarity on the changes we’d like to make, we’ll start communicating with impacted employees this week. In other locations, we’re still defining the route forward, often in consultation with our employees and their representatives.”
The email highlights the global nature of proposed layoffs, as many may have to be negotiated with work councils and government bodies. Certain “roles, projects and functions” now look likely to be scaled back or shut down.
Spokesperson Josh deBerge said in a statement to Puget Sound Business Journal: “Earlier this year, Expedia Group announced plans to streamline and reshape our business for the long-term future. At the same time, like all travel companies, we suffered a major reduction in bookings following the onset of Covid-19.
“While we have worked hard to save jobs, the proposed changes announced this week in our Travel Partners Group are a continuation of our efforts to streamline as we re-focus on creating the most value for our customers and partners while adjusting to the foreseeable realities of the travel market,” he added.
The business saw an 82 per cent drop in second quarter revenues as a result of the global pandemic. It was able to raise $3.2 billion in funding in order to weather the pandemic.
Expedia is aiming to cut between $300 and $500 million in expenses by the end of the year to ensure the business’ survival. Many of the cuts already done have come in the account management and marketing departments of the company.
