Expedia beats quarterly profit estimates, CFO to step down

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Online travel platform Expedia on Thursday beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit, helped by strong international travel demand, and said CFO Julie Whalen will step down likely before the mid of February, 2025.

The announcement comes months after Peter Kern stepped down as CEO and was succeeded by Ariane Gorin.

Shares of Expedia were up 7% after the bell.

Last month, Uber was reported to be exploring the acquisition of the online travel agency, a deal that would significantly impact the travel industry.

The Seattle-based company reported a profit of $6.13 per share for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with analysts’ estimates of $6.04 per share, according to LSEG compiled data.

Travel demand for international destinations was healthy during the reported quarter, especially in Asia-Pacific, where demand was driven by cross-border travel from wealthy Chinese consumers.

Total gross bookings for the third quarter came in at $27.5 billion, up 7% from last year. It posted quarterly booked room nights of 97.4 million, 9% higher than last year.

Expedia also raised its 2024 gross bookings growth forecast to 5% from 4% previously.

Total quarterly revenue rose 3% from a year ago to $4.06 billion, compared with estimates of $4.11 billion.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain and Aatreyee Dasgupta; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)