What Will Priceline’s Rivals Buy to Beat Its OpenTable Acquisition?

If recent patterns hold up, there won't be too long a wait before there's an answer from a competitor to the Priceline Group's blockbuster acquisition of OpenTable. The usual suspects with wads of cash, credit, or Bitcoin -- including Expedia, Google or TripAdvisor -- are likely considering their next chess moves. After the announcement June 13 that Priceline agreed to acquire OpenTable for $2.6 billion, it is easy to sense a certain euphoria among some players as further merger and acquisition activity seems as assured as the prospects of landing a restaurant reservation on a Monday night. Priceline's stock took a light beating, falling 3%, but that shouldn't deter competitors' next strategic moves. Don't forget that Expedia Inc. agreed to acquire German metasearcher Trivago in December 2012 -- only about six weeks after Priceline announced that it would purchase rival Kayak. It's very possible that TripAdvisor played a role in kicking off the current round of consolidati