Expedia Acquires Travelocity for $280 Million
Photo Credit: The Roaming Gnome, Travelocity's mascot. Travelocity
Skift Take
Expedia is expected to retain the Travelocity brand. It would be foolish not to because the whole value proposition is to tap into the allegiances of Travelocity loyalists. And that leaves Orbitz out in the cold. It is unable to achieve scale and Expedia and the Priceline Group are apparently not interested in scooping Orbitz up.
As expected after the early termination of a Federal Trade Commission antitrust review two weeks ago, Expedia Inc. acquired Travelocity outright for an underwhelming $280 million in cash.
The acquisition from Travelocity's parent, Sabre Corp., is for Travelocity's websites in the U.S. and Canada. Switzerland-based Bravofly has an agreement to acquire Lastminute.com, often referred to as Travelocity Europe, for $120 million. Subject to regulatory approvals, the LastMinute.com deal is expected to close in the next couple of months.
Under a 2013 agreement between Expedia and Sabre, Expedia has certain options to acquire Sabre’s Travelocity for a fair market price. We predicted in May 2014 that today's acquisition would happen.
Sabre entered into the 2013 agreement with Expedia to cut Sabre's losses and expenses related to Travelocity as Sabre was poised to execute its
