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Travis Katz

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Travis Katz
NationalityAmerican
EducationStanford University; Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
OccupationEntrepreneur
Known forFounder and CEO, Trip.com
TitlePresident and CEO, BrightDrop

Travis Katz (born 1971) is an American technology entrepreneur and investor.[1]  He is currently the General Manager of Shopping for YouTube.[2] Katz served as the President and CEO of GM-backed electric vehicle maker BrightDrop,[3] co-founded Fox Interactive Media, led the global expansion of social networking site MySpace, and was co-founder and CEO of online travel site Trip.com, which was acquired by CTrip in 2017.

Early life and education

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Travis Katz grew up in Englewood, Colorado.[4] 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, earning deans' list honors.[5]

Career

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World Bank

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Katz started his career at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., where he focused his research on decentralization and urban development in Latin America. He co-authored a number of case studies with Tim Campbell on improving city governance and urban innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean,[6][7] and co-organized the first ever Latin American Conference of Mayors, bringing together mayors of major cities from throughout the region to exchange learnings and best practices. From there, Katz joined a joint program of the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program focused on improving access to clean water and sanitation in the developing world. While there he co-authored with Jennifer Sara a widely cited report on how improve the sustainability of investments in rural water supply, based on field research Katz oversaw in Africa, Asia and Latin America.[8]

Fox Interactive Media

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Katz joined Fox Entertainment Group in 2003 to work on corporate and business development, including the launch of action sports network, FUEL.  During this time, Katz was identified by CEO Rupert Murdoch as one of "four rising stars"[9] asked by Murdoch to develop a strategy for how 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.[9] Within a year of launching the business, Fox Interactive Media had overtaken Yahoo! to be the most visited property on the Internet.[10]

MySpace

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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.[11][12][13] 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.[14][15][16] Katz left MySpace in July 2009.[17]

Trip.com

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Travis Katz Accepting the Crunchies Award for Trip.com with Co-Founder Ori Zaltzman

In 2010, Katz launched an online travel company, Gogobot,[18] later rebranded Trip.com.[19] Trip.com used artificial intelligence to provide travelers with real time recommendations based on their interests, location, weather and other signals.[19] The site raised $39M over 3 rounds from Redpoint Ventures, HomeAway, Battery Ventures and Innovation Endeavors.[20] 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.[21] Following the acquisition, Katz worked as vice president of product for Skyscanner, a Ctrip company, where Trip.com's reviews and photos were integrated.[22]

BrightDrop

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In 2020, Katz joined as founding CEO and President of BrightDrop, a new electric vehicle company, backed by General Motors, targeting commercial delivery.[23][24][25] The vision was to combine the speed and agility of a Silicon Valley startup with GM's scale and strengths in manufacturing and supply chain.[26] GM committed $800M up front to get the venture off the ground and build out the factory in Ingersol, Ontario.[27]

Under Katz's leadership, the company delivered its first electric vehicles, the Zevo 600, to FedEx in December 2021, just twenty months from the vehicle's conception, making it the fastest vehicle to market in GM's history.[28][29][30] BrightDrop secured contracts with FedEx, Walmart[31][32] and Merchants Fleet,[33][34] as well as an agreement to develop service vehicles for Verizon.[35][33] In November, 2022, GM announced BrightDrop was on track to deliver $1 billion in revenue in 2023, making it one of the fastest companies in history to achieve this milestone.[36][37]

In November, 2023, following a commitment by GM to cut $3B in expenses,[38] the company announced it was reorganizing its BrightDrop electric commercial vehicle unit to make it less independent from GM, but would continue to manufacture the BrightDrop vans. It announced that Katz would be leaving at an unspecified date, but did not elaborate on the reason for his departure.[39]

Personal life

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Katz lives with his family in Menlo Park, California.[40] He is an active traveler who has visited more than 54 countries.[41] He met his wife on a camel safari in Jaisalmer, India.[42]

References

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  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. ^ "LinkedIn". LinkedIN.
  3. ^ Brown, Chris. "How GM's New BrightDrop EV Business Will Work with Fleets". www.fleetforward.com. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  4. ^ "Travel Style: Travis Katz -". Johnny Jet. 2015-09-21. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  5. ^ "Bloomberg Profile: Travis Katz". Bloomberg.
  6. ^ Katz, Travis; Campbell, Tim (1995). "The City Manager Experience in the U.S.: Perspectives on Improving Local Government in LAC". Reports.
  7. ^ Campbell, Tim (2004). Leadership and Innovation in Subnational Government. World Bank Institute. pp. 69–98. ISBN 0-8213-5707-7.
  8. ^ Katz, Travis; Sara, Jennifer. "Making rural water supply sustainable : recommendations from a global study" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. ^ a b Adegoke, Yinka (2011-04-08). "SPECIAL REPORT - How News Corp got lost in Myspace". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  10. ^ "Fox Interactive Media Ranks #1 in Page Views; Yahoo! Sites Attract the Most Unique Visitors | Comscore, Inc". ir.comscore.com. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  11. ^ "MySpace clicks to Canada and Mexico". www.ft.com. 2007-01-28. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  12. ^ Julia Angwin; Jay Alabaster (2006-11-08). "MySpace Adds a Friend in Japan". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  13. ^ Li, Kenneth (2007-01-24). "MySpace to speed overseas expansion in '07". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  14. ^ Kafka, Peter. "MySpace Frantically Talking Up International Growth, Again". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  15. ^ Nam, In-Soo (2008-04-16). "Global Growth Is Expected To Bolster MySpace Revenue". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  16. ^ "MySpace International Head Travis Katz Is Out (Updated)". TechCrunch. 23 June 2009. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  17. ^ O'Carroll, Tristan (July 16, 2009). "MySpace confirms international chief Katz's departure". www.campaignlive.com. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  18. ^ "Gogobot CEO Travis Katz Talks About Beta Launch of Social Travel Site". AllThingsD. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  19. ^ a b Schaal, Dennis (2016-11-17). "Gogobot Rebrands to Trip.com With Artificial Intelligence App". Skift. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  20. ^ Rey, Jason Del (2014-11-12). "HomeAway Leads $20 Million Investment in Gogobot". Vox. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  21. ^ O'Neill, Sean (2017-11-01). "Ctrip Buys Trip.com for Skyscanner to Enhance Local Recommendations". Skift. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  22. ^ O'Neill, Sean (13 August 2019). "Why Skyscanner Is Closing Its Stand-Alone Local Recommendations App". Skift. Yahoo. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  23. ^ Wayland, Michael (2021-01-12). "General Motors unveils EV van as part of new commercial business unit". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  24. ^ "GM targets delivery companies with new EV business unit BrightDrop". TechCrunch. 12 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  25. ^ "StackPath". www.industryweek.com. 13 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  26. ^ "Electrifying Last Mile Deliveries Can Create a More Sustainable Supply Chain". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  27. ^ Zimmerman, Max and Michael Bellusci (2021-01-18). "GM to invest nearly US$800M to bring EV output to Ontario plant - BNN Bloomberg". BNN. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  28. ^ Holland, Frank (17 December 2021). "FedEx gets first of 500 electric trucks from GM's EV unit in a major advance for green logistics". CNBC. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  29. ^ Ramey, Jay (20 December 2021). "FedEx Gets Its First BrightDrop EV Vans". Autoweek. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  30. ^ Jean-Baptiste, Christine (2022-06-22). "FedEx takes delivery of its first 150 BrightDrop EV delivery vans". TESLARATI. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  31. ^ Packer, Peggy (11 January 2022). "Walmart Taps BrightDrop to Optimize Delivery Fleet With Electric Vehicles; Travis Katz and Tom Ward Discuss". Deli Market News. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  32. ^ Hawkins, Andrew J. (5 January 2022). "Walmart and FedEx ordering thousands of electric delivery vans from GM's BrightDrop". The Verge. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  33. ^ a b Walford, Lynn (4 October 2021). "GM's BrightDrop Efficiently Electrifying First And Last-Mile Deliveries - CEO Travis Katz". Auto Futures. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  34. ^ Alamalhodaei, Aria (18 November 2021). "GM's electric delivery unit BrightDrop expands deal with Merchants Fleet". TechCrunch. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  35. ^ LaReau, Jamie L. (28 September 2021). "GM's startup, BrightDrop, to make new EV service van for Verizon". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  36. ^ Trop, Jaclyn (2022-11-17). "BrightDrop is tracking $1 billion revenue in 2023". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-11-20.
  37. ^ Holland, Frank (17 November 2022). "GM EV unit BrightDrop expects $1 billion in 2023 revenue, mass production of all-electric delivery vans to start in December". CNBC. Retrieved 2022-11-20.
  38. ^ Lombaerde, Geert De (2023-07-25). "GM Doubles Down on Cost Savings, Trims $1B From Capex Plan". IndustryWeek. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  39. ^ "GM reorganizes BrightDrop EV unit, business head leaving". Reuters. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  40. ^ "Travel Style: Travis Katz -". Johnny Jet. 2015-09-21. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  41. ^ "TRAVELER INTERVIEWS | GOGOBOT CEO TRAVIS KATZ". beersandbeans.com. 2021-02-21. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
  42. ^ "GANT Lookout - Travis Katz on Smart Traveling". www.gant.com. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
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