Expedia’s board of directors. (Maybe.) Benjamin West/Wikimedia Commons
Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has an apocalyptic message for investors: “Hopefully we will all be alive to see the end of next year.”
Khosrowshahi signed off with the deadpan line about human frailty at the end of Expedia’s Q4 earnings call on Thursday, in what seems to be a veiled reference to US President Donald Trump’s policies.
The Iranian-born American executive has previously been critical of Trump — telling employees in a memo obtained by Business Insider in January that the president’s immigration ban will make America be seen as a “smaller nation, one that is inward-looking versus forward thinking.”
Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Expedia. Getty
Expedia is also supporting legal action against the ban, with Khosrowshahi telling The New York Times that “this is travel, our soul and spirit, and we felt we had to respond.”
The more fearful of Donald Trump’s critics have at times worried about whether he poses an “existential threat” to America and the world. Before the election, Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton argued that Trump should not be trusted with access to America’s nuclear arsenal, a call supported by some former nuclear-launch officers.
Donald Trump was never mentioned by name during the earnings call — but Khosrowshahi’s comment appear to be a darkly humorous reference to the concerns that some of the Republican president’s opponents have.
For those who are interested, the travel company’s Q4 2016 revenue grew 23.2% year-on-year, hitting $2.09 billion (£1.68 billion) up from $1.7 billion (£1.37 billion) in 2015.You can read the complete transcript of Expedia’s earnings call over on Seeking Alpha.
