Trivago Chief Financial Officer Axel Hefer will replace co-founder and CEO Rolf Schrömgens at the end of the year, the company announced.
Hefer told Cheddar in an interview Tuesday the company had been working on a succession plan since he joined the company three years ago.
Schrömgens's co-founders Peter Vinnemeier and Stephan Stubner left the company in 2018. Hefer told Cheddar Schrömgens felt it was time for him "to move into a more passive role." Schrömgens will join the advisory board and give up his board of directors seat.
Trivago's stock was down about 19 percent after the surprising announcement, made along with the Q3 earnings report.
"Our third quarter overall came in softer than expected," he said. The company expects a smaller Q4 revenue than last year.
Hefer said the stock price reaction "is a combination of both filings and, obviously, very difficult to say which part of the drop is associated to the different news."
Hefer said the company has been focused on profitability after losing a "substantial sums of money" in the first half of 2018.
Stocks rose in midday trading on Wall Street Friday, led by more gains in technology stocks as another chipmaker reported strong demand related to artificial intelligence.
All of Ford Motor Co.'s current and future electric vehicles will have access to about 12,000 Tesla Supercharger stations in the U.S. and Canada starting next spring.
Shares of Nvidia, already one of the world's most valuable companies, skyrocketed Thursday after the chipmaker forecast a huge jump in revenue, signaling how vastly the broadening use of artificial intelligence could reshape the tech sector.
