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 was 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.

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 also attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with an MBA in 2001.[4]

Career

World Bank

Katz started his career at the World Bank, where he led research on urban development as well as rural water supply. He co-authored a number papers on improving city governance and urban innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean,[5][6] and co-led a global study on making investments in rural water supply in impoverished countries sustainable as part of the joint World Bank-UNDP water supply program.[7]

Fox Interactive Media

Katz joined Fox Entertainment Group in 2003.  During this time, Katz was one of "four rising stars"[8] 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.[8] Within a year, Fox Interactive Media had overtaken Yahoo! to be the most visited property on the Internet.[9]

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.[10][11][12] 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.[13][14][15] Katz left MySpace in July 2009.[16]

Trip.com

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

In 2010, Katz launched an online travel company, Gogobot,[17] later rebranded Trip.com.[18] Trip.com used artificial intelligence to provide travelers with real time recommendations based on their interests, location, weather and other signals.[18] The site raised $39M over 3 rounds from Redpoint Ventures, HomeAway, Battery Ventures and Innovation Endeavors.[19] 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.[20] Following the acquisition, Katz worked as vice president of product for Skyscanner, a Ctrip company, where Trip.com's reviews and photos were integrated.[21]

BrightDrop

In 2020, Katz joined as CEO and President of BrightDrop, an electric vehicle company, backed by General Motors, targeting commercial delivery.[22][23][24]

Under Katz's leadership, BrightDrop secured contracts with Walmart[25][26] and Merchants Fleet,[27][28] as well as an agreement to develop service vehicles for Verizon.[29][27] The company delivered its first vehicles, purpose-built for commercial delivery, to FedEx in December 2021.[30][31] In November, 2022, Katz 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.[32][33]

Personal life

Katz lives with his family in Menlo Park, California.[34] He is an active traveler who has visited more than 54 countries.[35] He met his wife on a camel safari in Jaisalmer, India.[36]

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. ↑ Brown, Chris. "How GM's New BrightDrop EV Business Will Work with Fleets". www.fleetforward.com. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  3. ↑ "Travel Style: Travis Katz -". Johnny Jet. 2015-09-21. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  4. ↑ "Bloomberg Profile: Travis Katz". Bloomberg.
  5. ↑ Katz, Travis; Campbell, Tim (1995). "The City Manager Experience in the U.S.: Perspectives on Improving Local Government in LAC". Reports.
  6. ↑ Campbell, Tim (2004). Leadership and Innovation in Subnational Government. World Bank Institute. pp. 69–98. ISBN 0-8213-5707-7.
  7. ↑ Katz, Travis; Sara, Jennifer. "Making rural water supply sustainable : recommendations from a global study" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. 1 2 Adegoke, Yinka (2011-04-08). "SPECIAL REPORT - How News Corp got lost in Myspace". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  9. ↑ "Fox Interactive Media Ranks #1 in Page Views; Yahoo! Sites Attract the Most Unique Visitors | Comscore, Inc". ir.comscore.com. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  10. ↑ "MySpace clicks to Canada and Mexico". www.ft.com. 2007-01-28. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  11. ↑ Julia Angwin; Jay Alabaster (2006-11-08). "MySpace Adds a Friend in Japan". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  12. ↑ Li, Kenneth (2007-01-24). "MySpace to speed overseas expansion in '07". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  13. ↑ Kafka, Peter. "MySpace Frantically Talking Up International Growth, Again". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  14. ↑ Nam, In-Soo (2008-04-16). "Global Growth Is Expected To Bolster MySpace Revenue". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  15. ↑ "MySpace International Head Travis Katz Is Out (Updated)". TechCrunch. 23 June 2009. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  16. ↑ O'Carroll, Tristan (July 16, 2009). "MySpace confirms international chief Katz's departure". www.campaignlive.com. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  17. ↑ "Gogobot CEO Travis Katz Talks About Beta Launch of Social Travel Site". AllThingsD. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  18. 1 2 Schaal, Dennis (2016-11-17). "Gogobot Rebrands to Trip.com With Artificial Intelligence App". Skift. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  19. ↑ Rey, Jason Del (2014-11-12). "HomeAway Leads $20 Million Investment in Gogobot". Vox. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  20. ↑ O'Neill, Sean (2017-11-01). "Ctrip Buys Trip.com for Skyscanner to Enhance Local Recommendations". Skift. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  21. ↑ O'Neill, Sean (13 August 2019). "Why Skyscanner Is Closing Its Stand-Alone Local Recommendations App". Skift. Yahoo. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  22. ↑ Wayland, Michael (2021-01-12). "General Motors unveils EV van as part of new commercial business unit". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  23. ↑ "GM targets delivery companies with new EV business unit BrightDrop". TechCrunch. 12 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  24. ↑ "StackPath". www.industryweek.com. 13 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  25. ↑ 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.
  26. ↑ 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.
  27. 1 2 Walford, Lynn (4 October 2021). "GM's BrightDrop Efficiently Electrifying First And Last-Mile Deliveries - CEO Travis Katz". Auto Futures. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  28. ↑ Alamalhodaei, Aria (18 November 2021). "GM's electric delivery unit BrightDrop expands deal with Merchants Fleet". TechCrunch. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  29. ↑ 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.
  30. ↑ 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.
  31. ↑ Ramey, Jay (20 December 2021). "FedEx Gets Its First BrightDrop EV Vans". Autoweek. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  32. ↑ Trop, Jaclyn (2022-11-17). "BrightDrop is tracking $1 billion revenue in 2023". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-11-20.
  33. ↑ 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.
  34. ↑ "Travel Style: Travis Katz -". Johnny Jet. 2015-09-21. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  35. ↑ "TRAVELER INTERVIEWS | GOGOBOT CEO TRAVIS KATZ". beersandbeans.com. 2021-02-21. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
  36. ↑ "GANT Lookout - Travis Katz on Smart Traveling". www.gant.com. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
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