Skift Take
Expedia Group wouldn’t provide additional details on the sudden exits of the two executives.
Dennis Schaal
One week after Ariane Gorin took over as the new CEO of Expedia Group, the company issued a statement Friday that Chief Technology Officer Rathi Murthy, and Sreenivas Rachamadugu, senior vice president, core services product & engineering, are no longer working at the company.
Expedia Group cited “a violation of company policy,” but wouldn’t provide additional details on their exits.
The company said “we’re actively searching to fill these roles and remain confident in our technology, strategy, and employees.”
Both Murthy and Rachamadugu previously worked at Verizon Media. She worked there as chief technology officer in 2020 and 2021, while he was employed there as vice president engineering and product in 2021.
Murthy played a high-profile role at Expedia Group’s annual partner conference, Explore 24, in Las Vegas on Tuesday and Wednesday. She appeared on stage in the general session on Tuesday and spoke about the company’s new AI travel assistant, Romie.
Murthy also briefed the press on Expedia Group’s brand platform migration, in which she played a leading role, and spoke about what it was like to be a top woman executive at such a high-profile company.
One element of buzz at the conference was a “trifecta” of women leaders at Expedia Group, including Gorin, Chief Financial Officer Julie Whalen, and Murthy. That trifecta is now a duo with Murthy gone.
Rachamadudu did not attend the conference.
The sudden exits of Murthy and Rachamadudu do not appear to be performance-related, according to the Expedia Group statement, but were tied to “a violation of company policy.”
Expedia Group’s employee policies cover a wide range of behaviors, including bullying, sexual harassment, conflicts of interests and financial integrity.
On the tech side, Expedia Group had a flurry of AI-related product announcements this week. But earlier this month, officials noted that Vrbo and Hotels.com, two of the parent company’s core brands, hadn’t bounced back fast enough from the tech platform migration and the rollout of the One Key loyalty program in 2023.
Expedia Group’s brands also experienced a global tech outage tied to a software issue over the May 4-5 weekend.
