Priceline to Buy Kayak for $1.8 Billion and Keep Kayak Brand
Skift Take
This ends the short life of Kayak as a public company -- it just finished its first post-IPO quarter. Priceline will gain a great online and mobile team to build its portfolio and will put muscle behind the Kayak brand.
A bomb just dropped in the online travel world: Priceline the world's largest travel company, has agreed to acquire travel meta-search company Kayak, for about $1.8 billion. Priceline's shares are down about 1.7 percent in extended trading, while Kayak's up about 1.6 percent.
Major Deal Points: Priceline is offering $40 per share of Kayak, which is about 30 percent premium on today’s share value of around $30 a share. This values the company at about $1.8 billion, with about $500 million in cash and $1.3 billion in equity and assumed stock options.Both boards have approved the deal, but shareholder approval required, expected to close by Q1, 2013.Kayak to remain a separate brand, with same management.As of November 8, 2012, Kayak’s directors and officers owned 70.4%, of its Class A and Class B common stock, which represents 77.9% voting power, which means shareholder resistance to the deal unlikely.In a separate SEC filing, Kayak mentioned that it has extended its Goo
