Online travel site Expedia just expanded its board to add veteran movie maker Scott Rudin as a director. The news of his appointment and the expansion of the board from 13 to 14 members, was disclosed in an SEC Filing on Thursday and first picked up by Puget Sound Business Journal.
Rudin has produced a number of films including The Social Network, Steve Jobs, and No Country for Old Men. He founded Scott Rudin Productions, served as a senior executive at Twentieth Century Fox (FOX), and has been involved in several theatrical productions including a reprise of Stephen Sondheim’s Passion, for which he won a Best Musical Tony Award in 1994. Earlier this month, he pulled out of a musical adaptation of Groundhog Day.
There’s already film-making DNA in the house. Expedia chairman Barry Diller, chief executive and chairman of IAC (IAC) was formerly a top executive at both Fox Inc., and Paramount.
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Expedia (EXPE), based in Bellevue, Wash., operates several brands including Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Trivago, Egencia, and Venere.com. Competitors include American Express (AXP)Travel Services and TripAdvisor (TRIP).
Some industry observers say online travel aggregation sites like these, which up-ended traditional travel agencies years ago, are under threat themselves as more consumers opt to book lodging through AirBnB. That’s probably why Expedia plunked down $3.9 billion to buy AirBnB rival HomeAway late last year.
