Expedia CEO Peter Kern likes complicated challenges, a trait he calls his fatal flaw.
Kern got one of the most complex career challenges in April 2020 when he took over the CEO role at the Seattle-based travel giant, right as the Covid-19 pandemic was shutting down travel. Expedia had made many acquisitions in the preceding years and was already reorganizing its operations months before a pandemic was declared.
Expedia’s previous CEO, Mark Okerstrom, resigned in December 2019 after a disappointing third quarter. The company laid off 3,500 employees in February 2020.
“Our chairman (Barry Diller) and I were actively running the business together for several months, kind of getting under the hood and trying to figure everything out without any intention of me to take over,” Kern said during a video call. “And then Covid hit. ... This one felt like it needed me.”
More than three years later, Expedia has made major changes as travel rebounds, including a rebrand and a new corporate structure in 2021 to better organize its business. In its first-quarter earnings, Expedia reported $2.7 billion in revenue, its highest first-quarter revenue ever and an 18% year-over-year increase.
The Business Journal spoke with Kern about his decision to take on the Expedia CEO role, the company’s direction during the pandemic and his affinity for romantic comedies.
About Peter
- Age: 56
- Hometown: New York City
- Education: Bachelor’s from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
- Interests outside of work: Family, wine, food, skiing, biking and working out
Day in the life:
- Morning: When in Seattle, Kern takes the commuter shuttle to the office. He picks up a decaf coffee in the atrium and starts the workday with a series of meetings — often using the waterfront seating on nice days for one-on-ones with senior leaders.
- Lunch: Kern takes lunch in the atrium and uses that time to sit and enjoy his meal with employees.
- End of day: Kern takes the shuttle home and tries to attend a Barry’s Bootcamp class when he can in the evening.
You were the CEO of Tribune Media before it sold to Nexstar in 2019. How has the transition been to a tech company like Expedia?
From prior experience, I’ve been asked to come in on other occasions to work through and reorganize companies to get them to a better place. It was something I had a fair amount of experience with. I’ve done it a few times before, so when things changed at Expedia, the board felt like I would be a good solution.
Had you led a company like Expedia before? It was a space I knew something about and had spent a fair amount of time in but hadn’t worked in directly. But I felt comfortable in it. The work of making a company great has a lot to do with the same ingredients in any space. It’s about people. It’s about process. It’s about defining your goals.
What was the hardest aspect of those pandemic years?
Keeping people motivated and engaged. There were a lot of complicated issues happening during that period, whether it was Black Lives Matter or Asian hate and other things coming along. Every experience was amplified. Every nerve was raw. People were struggling just because they were sick of being home alone. Maybe they had little kids at home. I felt a much greater compulsion as a leader than I ever had to hold everyone together.
What about from a business perspective?
Built on acquisitions and a lot of things, sometimes that means there’s a lot of work you never got around to. Like you hadn’t consolidated the technical stacks. We hadn’t really figured out our multibrand strategy. There was just a lot of ditch-digging hard work that had to get done. Covid gave us a unique opportunity to do it. You’re always trying to change the wheels on the car going 100 miles an hour. Now, all of a sudden, the car was going 10 miles an hour.
Was it hard to stay optimistic?
I never worried that travel wouldn’t come back. That was never even a second thought for me. I just feel like humanity is wired to do it. It’s too important to the joy of life. ... I had a longstanding disagreement with the founder of Airbnb (Brian Chesky) who said cities will never be the same and people will never travel the same. I kept saying, “No. Rome has been through like 10 pandemics. Rome is going to be OK. It’s coming back.” I feel happy that I was on the right side of that bet.
Expedia started moving employees into its new Interbay headquarters, which cost about $900 million to develop, right before the pandemic hit. Was there any buyer’s remorse?
Well, it wasn’t mine. There’s a lot to digest these days. Our company is so much smaller than it used to be, by intent. Hybrid work is a whole complicated factor. It’s certainly a beautiful place to work that we all feel energized to be in. Is it perfectly sized to our current work schedule? Probably not. But we’re lucky to have it. It’s great to have people there. ... We can debate in hindsight. It’s easy to debate. Did we need it to be quite as big? No, right now we don’t, but we also expect to grow.
How have the efforts been around decluttering Expedia’s operations?
We’re really where we want to be. We’ve changed how we’re organized. The brands used to operate separately. Now they’re one brand. The technology used to be in different stacks and different groups. Now it’s one technology and one product. ... It’s a much simpler organization. When I started out, I think I had 12 or 13 direct reports. Now I have six.
With travel rebounding, what’s on the horizon for Expedia?
Personalization and the product. That’s the North Star. ... When you come in, the product will know you and understand that, guide you faster to the right answers for you.
What is something most people don’t know about you?
I like rom-coms.
What’s your favorite rom-com?
That’s tough. I often quote from the company “Love Actually,” but that’s just because it’s highly quotable. There’s a long, good list of them.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
