Dramatic Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi Ends Earnings Call With Apocalyptic Flair

Yesterday, Expedia $EXPE CEO, long time Trump hater, and former Iranian refugee Dara Khosrowshahi ended an otherwise milquetoast earnings call with quite the dramatic statement:

Expedia CEO at end of company's earnings call: Thanks to employees for 2016, "hopefully we will all be alive to see the end of next year" pic.twitter.com/9BcdQaAq4U

— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) February 9, 2017

Khosrowshahi isn’t the first left-leaning corporate executive to use their visibility to slam President Trump and his policies, however his outrage is possibly the most understandable. While the impact of the Executive Order banning travelers from terror-sponsoring nations may marginally impact Expedia’s revenue, Khosrowshahi – who fled the Iranian revolution with his parents, probably has family members in Iran who have been directly affected by the ban. In an email to employees after the Executive Order was issued, obtained by Geekwire, Khosrowshahi explains:

My family emigrated to the U.S. after the Iranian revolution in 1978.  We sure didn’t feel like refugees, but in hindsight I guess we were –

I believe that with this Executive Order, our President has reverted to the short game.  The U.S. may be an ever so slightly less dangerous as a place to live, but it will certainly be seen as a smaller nation, one that is inward-looking versus forward thinking, reactionary versus visionary.

While Khosrowshahi’s apocalyptic dig at the President was perhaps a bit childish, I find it notable that his letter to employees acknowledges the increased security the Executive Order was meant to provide – even if the rest of his screed is open border kumbaya bullshit. At minimum it’s tacit acknowledgement that radical Islamic terror exists, which is far more than one can say for America hating CEOs like Starbucks’ Howard Schultz.