Booking Holdings said Friday after market close that it is planning organizational changes at its Booking.com unit, including a cut in the workforce as well as process and systems modernization.
In a regulatory filing the company said it also wants to optimize procurement and is seeking savings from real estate.
“We believe these efforts will improve operating expense efficiency, increase organizational agility, free up resources that can be reinvested into further improving our offering to both travelers and partners and better position the company for the long term. We will be consulting with works councils, employee representatives and other relevant organizations and expect to develop more clarity on these organizational changes, including with respect to timing, expected impact on employees, financial impact and other aspects of the contemplated changes in due course,” the company said.
In an additional statement, Booking Holdings said: “Booking.com is reviewing its organizational structure to increase efficiency and accelerate innovation, which will – subject to consultation processes (as applicable) – potentially lead to role reductions in some parts of the business. This is a difficult but necessary proactive step to make sure Booking.com remains agile in a very competitive industry and keeps driving customer-centered innovation at pace.”
Booking Holdings has not said how many jobs are expected to be lost at the online travel agency or at what level or departments although it did refer to multiple jurisdictions.
Jake Fuller, managing director and digital services analyst at BTIG, wrote that the announcement about efficiencies “to free up resources to invest in growth” was in line Booking Holdings’ recent management commentary.
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Fuller also said BTIG could not calculate the number of job cuts but put forward one scenario where cuts of between 4-8% would free up between $200-$400 million, which could be reinvested in paid search to buy up to 24 million room nights.
The news comes after the company announced total revenue of $8 billion in the third quarter, a 9% increase year over year, and adjusted EBITDA was $3.7 billion, a 12% increase over Q3 2023. Room nights for the same period increased 8%, which the company said “exceeded expectations.”
During the call, the company’s chief financial officer Ewout Steenbergen, said: “We continue to be very focused on carefully managing the growth of our fixed expenses. We believe it is important to drive greater operating leverage in our fixed expenses as this creates capacity for disciplined investment across our strategic initiatives, which we believe will help drive stronger top-line and earnings growth in the future.”
According to its website, Booking Holdings has more than 24,000 employees across all of its brands, including Booking.com, Agoda, Kayak and Priceline.
Expedia Group announced earlier this year that it planned to reduce its headcount by 1,500 or 9% of its employee count. The news came on top of lay-offs across multiple departments in July 2023.
