Skift Take
Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, CheapTickets, Hotels.com, Hotwire, and Trivago -- they would all belong to Expedia Inc. if this Expedia-Orbitz deal gets approved by regulators. It's nice to be king -- although Priceline and Booking.com may have something to say about that.
After acquiring Travelocity last month and Wotif in Australia a few months earlier, Expedia Inc. cleaned up a few missing pieces and agreed to acquire Orbitz Worldwide, including Orbitz, CheapTickets, eBookers, and HotelClub in a $1.6 billion cash deal.
The deal would give Expedia Inc. a 75 percent market share among U.S. online travel agencies, according to Phocuswright.
The announcement of the deal today was a stunner -- although it shouldn't have been. When Expedia initially began running Travelocity's North America sites in late 2013 Expedia stated that it was interested in similar deals.
And last week during Expedia's fourth quarter of 2014 earnings call, Expedia Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company would continue to be acquisitive in 2015. "As far as acquisitions go, acquisitions are a part of our game plan," Khosrowshahi said February 5. "We've had a number of acquisitions over the years and I would say that our technology platforms now and our operating practices now are at a different level where we are good at and have a very strong practice at bringing in and consolidating acquisitions and realizing synergies."
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