Travis Katz

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Travis Katz (born 1971) is an American technology entrepreneur and investor.[1]  He is currently the President and CEO of electric vehicle maker BrightDrop.[2] Katz co-founded Fox Interactive Media, led international expansion for social networking site MySpace, and founded online travel site Trip.com, which was acquired by CTrip in 2017.

Travis David Katz
NationalityAmerican
EducationStanford University; Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
OccupationEntrepreneur
Known forFounding Trip.com
TitleCEO, BrightDrop

Early life and education[]

Travis Katz grew up in Englewood, Colorado.[3] Katz attended Stanford University, where he graduated with a degree in Public Policy. He later attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with an MBA in 2001.[4] Katz currently resides with his family in Menlo Park, California.[3]

Career[]

World Bank[]

Katz started his career at the World Bank, where he co-authored a number papers on urban development, leadership and governance in Latin America.[5] In 1996, he joined the World Bank-United Nations Development Program Water and Santiation Program, where he led research on how to improve the sustainability of investments in clean drinking water in emerging markets.[6]  

Fox Interactive Media[]

Katz joined Fox Entertainment Group in 2003.  During this time, Katz was one of "four rising stars"[7] selected by News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch to look at possible ways to use the web to distribute News Corp’s content to new audiences.  Together with Ross Levinsohn, Adam Bain and Michael Kirby, Katz founded Fox Interactive Media, and was given a "war chest of $2 billion" to acquire digital businesses, including MySpace, Photobucket, Rotten Tomatoes, and IGN.[7] Within a year, Fox Interactive Media had overtaken Yahoo! to be the most visited property on the Internet.[8]

MySpace[]

In February 2006, Katz joined social media company MySpace to lead the company's expansion outside of the United States. By January 2007, Katz had launched the MySpace business in 11 countries, and 25% of MySpace's 325,000 new sign ups were coming from outside the US.[9][10][11] By 2008, Katz had launched MySpace in 29 countries, and had taken over international operations for other News Corp digital brands, including IGN and Rotten Tomatoes.[12][13][14] Katz left MySpace in July 2009.[15]

Trip.com[]

In 2010, Katz launched an online travel company, Gogobot,[16] later rebranded Trip.com.[17] Trip.com used artificial intelligence to provide travelers with real time recommendations based on their interests, location, weather and other signals.[17] The site raised $39M over 3 rounds from Redpoint Ventures, HomeAway, Battery Ventures and Innovation Endeavors.[18] In October 2017, Trip.com was acquired by Chinese travel company Ctrip and became that company's flagship brand outside of China. At the time of the acquisition, Ctrip reported the site had 60 million users.[19] Following the acquisition, Katz worked as VP, Product for Skyscanner (a CTrip company), where Trip.com's reviews and predictive intelligence was integrated.[19]

BrightDrop[]

In 2020, Katz joined as CEO and President of BrightDrop, an electric vehicle company, backed by General Motors, targeting commercial delivery.[20][21][22]

Personal life[]

Katz lives with his wife and 2 children in Menlo Park, California. He is an active traveler who has visited more than 54 countries.[23] He met his wife on a camel safari in Jaisalmer, India.[24]

References[]

  1. ^ "GM Launches BrightDrop, a New Business That Will Electrify and Improve the Delivery of Goods and Services | General Motors Company". investor.gm.com. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  2. ^ Bookmark +, Chris Brown •. "How GM's New BrightDrop EV Business Will Work with Fleets". www.fleetforward.com. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  3. ^ a b "Travel Style: Travis Katz -". Johnny Jet. 2015-09-21. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  4. ^ "Bloomberg Profile: Travis Katz". Bloomberg.
  5. ^ Campbell, Tim (2004). Leadership and Innovation in Subnational Government. World Bank Institute. pp. 69–98. ISBN 0-8213-5707-7.
  6. ^ Katz, Travis (1998). "Making Rural Water Supply Sustainable" (PDF).
  7. ^ a b Adegoke, Yinka (2011-04-08). "SPECIAL REPORT - How News Corp got lost in Myspace". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  8. ^ "Fox Interactive Media Ranks #1 in Page Views; Yahoo! Sites Attract the Most Unique Visitors | Comscore, Inc". ir.comscore.com. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  9. ^ "MySpace clicks to Canada and Mexico". www.ft.com. 2007-01-28. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  10. ^ Alabaster, Julia Angwin and Jay (2006-11-08). "MySpace Adds a Friend in Japan". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  11. ^ Li, Kenneth (2007-01-24). "MySpace to speed overseas expansion in '07". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  12. ^ Kafka, Peter. "MySpace Frantically Talking Up International Growth, Again". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  13. ^ Nam, In-Soo (2008-04-16). "Global Growth Is Expected To Bolster MySpace Revenue". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  14. ^ "MySpace International Head Travis Katz Is Out (Updated)". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  15. ^ July 16, Tristan O'Carroll; 2009. "MySpace confirms international chief Katz's departure". www.campaignlive.com. Retrieved 2021-06-23.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ "Gogobot CEO Travis Katz Talks About Beta Launch of Social Travel Site". AllThingsD. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  17. ^ a b Schaal, Dennis (2016-11-17). "Gogobot Rebrands to Trip.com With Artificial Intelligence App". Skift. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  18. ^ Rey, Jason Del (2014-11-12). "HomeAway Leads $20 Million Investment in Gogobot". Vox. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  19. ^ a b O'Neill, Sean (2017-11-01). "Ctrip Buys Trip.com for Skyscanner to Enhance Local Recommendations". Skift. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  20. ^ Wayland, Michael (2021-01-12). "General Motors unveils EV van as part of new commercial business unit". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  21. ^ "GM targets delivery companies with new EV business unit BrightDrop". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  22. ^ "StackPath". www.industryweek.com. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  23. ^ "TRAVELER INTERVIEWS | GOGOBOT CEO TRAVIS KATZ". beersandbeans.com. 2021-02-21. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
  24. ^ "GANT Lookout - Travis Katz on Smart Traveling". www.gant.com. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
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