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.
Boyd said he expects Kayak,
