Washington state's official WARN filing shows Expedia eliminating 162 Seattle-area positions in April 2026, contradicting separate claims of a smaller, finance-focused cut.
Expedia, Inc. notified the Washington State Employment Security Department on January 28, 2026, that it plans to permanently eliminate 162 positions at or connected to its Seattle headquarters between April 1 and April 19, 2026, according to the WARN notice reproduced by KOMO News. The filing lists the affected site as Expedia, Inc., 1111 Expedia Group Way West, Seattle, Washington 98119, and notes that some impacted employees work remotely. That documented action stands in contrast to unverified claims circulating about a separate, smaller round of 58 job cuts targeting data scientists and finance staff on September 22 — a figure and date not supported by any source in the current record.
What the WARN Filing Actually Documents
The Washington filing is unambiguous about scope and timing: 162 positions, permanent in nature, with layoffs beginning April 1 and concluding by April 19, 2026. The notice states that no union represents the affected employees and that no bumping rights exist, meaning displaced workers cannot claim other positions within the company based on seniority. These details, drawn directly from the state filing, provide the most authoritative account of the reduction's mechanics.
The occupational breakdown listed in the filing skews heavily toward technology and product functions rather than finance or data science exclusively. Titles include content designers, data engineers, a lead user researcher, a machine-learning scientist, a network engineer, a network-operations-center lead, an operations and traffic analyst, and directors overseeing data engineering, machine-learning science, product management, program management and software-development engineering. Fox13 Seattle separately confirmed job titles such as content designer, data engineer, product management, software development and user experience designer among those affected.
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How the Cuts Fit Into Expedia's Broader Restructuring
The Seattle filing did not emerge in isolation. GeekWire reported on January 26, 2026, that employees had begun posting online about layoffs affecting program managers and engineers across the Seattle region and other locations, adding that the company had cut roughly one-fifth of its product-team workforce. Two days later, the formal WARN notice supplied the first detailed public accounting of the reduction's scale in Washington state.
Skift's analysis of the filing concluded that the roles listed "skew toward product and technology work and include senior titles," suggesting the restructuring is falling heavily on experienced staff rather than entry-level positions. Expedia has framed the changes as part of an effort to evaluate its workforce and organizational structure, simplify operations, and reduce organizational layers to move faster and increase accountability — language that points to internal reorganization rather than a publicly disclosed financial emergency.
Sizing the Cuts Against Expedia's Global Workforce
Placed against Expedia Group's total headcount, the Washington reduction represents a measurable but not overwhelming share of employment. One report estimated the company employs approximately 16,500 people across 50 countries, which would put the 162 Washington positions at roughly 3% of global staffing — though that percentage is an approximation drawn from an external estimate rather than an audited company disclosure, since the WARN filing itself does not state a company-wide percentage.
Layoff-tracking databases corroborate the state filing's figures. WarnTracker records the April 2026 Washington notice as affecting 162 workers in Seattle, part of a broader history of 1,727 Expedia layoffs across 13 WARN notices dating back to October 2009. A related WarnTracker entry describes a combined 262-employee action spanning Austin, Texas (100 positions) and Seattle (162 positions), filed February 3, 2026. WARN Firehose and LayoffTracker.us independently confirm the 162-worker Seattle figure tied to the January 28 notice, reinforcing that this is the verifiable baseline for any reporting on Expedia's 2026 workforce reductions.
Seattle's Wider Tech Layoff Pattern
Expedia's cuts are unfolding against a backdrop of accumulating job losses across the Seattle technology and corporate sector. Axios reported on September 21, 2026, that smaller layoff rounds were adding up regionally, citing approximately 292 positions eliminated at Sony-owned Bungie, about 230 at Expeditors, and 162 at Expedia — the same figure tied to the January filing, not a new or separate cut. That reporting suggests later coverage may have revisited or aggregated the original 162-position action rather than announced a fresh reduction, which helps explain confusion around any claimed September event.
Notably, the available evidence does not indicate that data scientists or finance personnel were singled out as primary targets. While a "Machine Learning Scientist II" position appears among the listed roles, the filing is dominated by engineering, product, infrastructure, user-experience and management titles rather than finance-specific positions. Reports also note that Expedia has continued posting job openings connected to data analytics, data science and artificial intelligence, indicating that reductions in some areas may coincide with selective hiring in others as the company redeploys resources toward priority capabilities rather than retreating from technical investment altogether.
What Remains Unverified
No source in the current record substantiates a distinct 58-position layoff occurring on September 22, nor does any document establish that finance staff or data scientists were disproportionately affected, or that displaced employees predominantly earned six-figure salaries. WARN filings typically disclose job titles and layoff timing but not individual compensation, meaning claims about salary thresholds would require payroll data not present in the verified filing. Any reporting relying on those specific figures should be independently verified against its original source before publication, given that the documented and cross-checked figure remains 162 positions, filed January 28 and effective April 1 through April 19, 2026.
