What Priceline’s purchase of Kayak means: Brand power and big mobile push
Skift Take
The culture clash between relatively button-down Priceline and sometimes sockless and irreverent Kayak couldn't be more stark. But Kayak will operate semi-independently and the merger may finally help Kayak become the global brand that Priceline's Boyd thinks it can become.
At a travel conference a handful of years ago, Priceline CEO Jeffery Boyd disparaged the value proposition of metasearch in travel, but today Priceline agreed to buy Kayak for $1.8 billion.
In years past, even Kayak CEO Steve Hafner flippantly scoffed at metasearch as a low-margin, tough business, but much has changed as Kayak is now a public company, making healthy profits, and it soon will be gobbled up by Priceline.
It was clear from a Priceline call with analysts late this afternoon, that Priceline sees its pending acquisition of Kayak as a great financial proposition in its own right, as well as a way to bring on board a stellar technical/mobile team to share expertise with Priceline's team, and the converse, as well.
Boyd said Priceline views the acquisition of Kayak as a "significant" financial opportunity for the Priceline Group, and it believes it has the resources and expertise to help Kayak grow its international business, where the going has been somewhat slow.
