People walk through the new campus for Expedia on Elliott Bay in Seattle in 2019. On Monday the company announced job cuts. — Photo by Erika Schultz / The Seattle Times

Expedia said it's cutting thousands of jobs, striving to simplify the "bloated organization" and return the online travel giant to more disciplined growth.

The staff reductions will affect about 3,000 employees, including 500 people in Expedia's Seattle-based headquarters, said Josh deBerge, a company spokesman. The workers will begin to be notified this week. Expedia didn't tie the job cuts to effects of the coronavirus, which executives earlier this month said added "uncertainty" to the company's profit outlook.

"Today, Expedia Group announced our intent to simplify how we do business," deBerge said Monday in a statement. "This includes stopping certain projects and activities, reducing use of vendors and contractors and eliminating approximately 12% of our direct workforce."

Expedia announced the job cuts in an email to its global workforce, which numbered 25,400 as of Dec. 31.

"Following our disappointing 2019 business performance and our change in senior-most management, the travel leadership team has spent the last few months determining a better way forward," the email read. "After consulting with leaders around the globe, we recognize that we have been pursuing growth in an unhealthy and undisciplined way."

The company disclosed Tuesday that it expects the job cuts to cost from $135 million to $185 million in cash payments and other expenditures.

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