Wednesday, Orbitz Worldwide Inc. (OWW) said it appointed Barney Harford as president and chief executive officer. Harford has also been appointed to the board of Orbitz Worldwide. Harford will succeed Steve Barnhart who resigned to pursue other interests. Barnhart will remain with the company through early April in an advisory role to assist with the transition, noted the company.
Barney Harford, who has extensive experience in building and operating online travel businesses around the world, currently serves on the board of directors of LiquidPlanner and GlobalEnglish, a leading provider of online English language training services to multinational corporations.
In addition, Orbitz Worldwide also announced that it would take further measures to lower its operating costs. Over the next several weeks, the company intends to implement measures designed to lower its cost structure by an estimated additional $20- 25 million annually, in addition to the $20 million of annual cost reductions announced in November 2008.
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