Did Kayak Get Acquired by the Wrong Company?
Skift Take
There is no question that Kayak management would kill to be the beneficiary of the kind of marketing/advertising commitment that Expedia is making to Trivago. It is really tough to compete with one hand tied behind your back.
When you consider the growth numbers that Germany-based hotel metasearch company Trivago is posting and the inroads it is making in markets such as the U.S., you can only imagine the leadership at rival Kayak musing "if only" -- if only Expedia Inc. had acquired Kayak instead of its ending up in the Priceline Group.
That may be a crude, impolite thought, but just consider the widely divergent strategies that Expedia, which acquired Trivago in March 2013, and the Priceline Group, which bought Kayak two months later, are deploying.
In its fourth quarter and full-year 2014 earnings call yesterday, Expedia Inc. revealed that Trivago grew its revenue 68 percent year over year to more th
