Trivago has announced the departure of CEO Axel Hefer after his decision not to extend his contract.
Johannes Thomas takes over the role of CEO and managing director with immediate effect.
According to a statement, Thomas has worked with Trivago since its early days rising to become managing director and chief revenue officer, a role he held until 2020 when he left the company.
Hefer also worked his way up, taking on the managing director and CEO position in 2020 after he was offered a role leading country development seven years ago.
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In a LinkedIn post announcing his departure, Hefer said he will be starting a “new endeavor” adding: “It has been an amazing opportunity to grow and learn: From taking the company public, building the Finance and Legal departments to leading diverse teams like Data Science, Communications, Sales, Marketing and even Tech for some time…
“In 2020, only a few weeks after I took over as CEO from Rolf our business basically disappeared within weeks of COVID hitting us. We were paralyzed, no revenue, no customers, everybody sitting at home, isolated. But one thought helped us to stand through this period, helped us to reinvent ourselves: People will travel again in the future – and we need to get ready for that moment!
In 2022, after all challenges we’ve been through, we came out of the pandemic, hitting record profitability - the product of what we at Trivago have achieved together. I am proud of all teams and talents and am grateful to have been given the opportunity to work with such a group of great talents and outstanding professionals. It has been an incredible journey!”
Also rejoining Trivago are Jasmine Ezz, who becomes chief marketing officer, and Andrej Lehnert, who becomes chief product officer. Ezz previously held the role of global head of media buying while Lehnert had previous positions as chief product officer and chief marketing officer at the company.
Trivago founder Rolf Schrömgens is returning to the company as an advisor as well as member of the supervisory board, pending shareholder approval.
In its Q1 2023 earnings report released last week, Trivago reported revenue of €110 million in the quarter, up 9% from the same period in 2022, and adjusted EBITDA of €19 million compared with €21 million in Q1 2022.