Interview: HomeAway CEO on Whether His Company Is Next Acquisition Target
Photo Credit: HomeAway co-founder and CEO Brian Sharples. HomeAway
Skift Take
HomeAway just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Now there is a big question as to whether it will still be an independent company by the time the 11th anniversary rolls around. The company would be expensive to buy, but the betting here is that someone will acquire it, sooner rather than later.
The consolidation flurry in online travel is accelerating as Expedia Inc. announced its intent to acquire Orbitz Worldwide, after nabbing Wotif and Travelocity in the last few months and Trivago a couple of years ago.
The Priceline Group now counts Kayak and OpenTable in the fold, and TripAdvisor picked up Viator and a series of European restaurant reservations sites since the middle of 2014.
There's been much speculation that there aren't too many big companies left to acquire and that HomeAway would make a nice addition for one or more of the big acquisitive companies, especially Expedia Inc., which has a new vacation rental partnership with HomeAway, or the Priceline Group, which is strong in vacation rentals in Europe.
Skift discussed the issue and related ones with HomeAway CEO Brian Sharples, who co-founded the company 10 years ago.
An edited version of the interview follows:
Skift: It would seem to me that with all of the consolidation going on in the online trav
