Interview: Skyscanner’s CEO on the Ctrip Acquisition and the Future of Metasearch
Skift Take
As CEO Gareth Williams says, the Ctrip deal means that nothing and everything changes for Skyscanner. The focus of the business and the growth plans will remain in place but getting a wealthy new owner from the world's fastest-growing travel market will bring a multitude of new opportunities.
Ctrip’s pending $1.74 billion acquisition of UK metasearch website Skyscanner happened fast -- even as the company was exploring a 2017 initial public offering.
It only took between two and three months – from first meeting to final signing – to conclude the biggest European travel tech deal of the year. Perhaps that’s why the management teams were able to keep it under wraps.
Despite the deal seemingly coming out of nowhere, the signs were plentiful that something big was going to happen at Skyscanner.
One of its biggest investors, venture capital firm Scottish Equity Partners, started tongues wagging when co-founder Stuart Paterson told Business Insider that an IPO in 2017 was part of the plan.
Then a month ago Bloomberg reported that both a sale and IPO were being explored. No names were mentioned and hence the widespread surprise last week when Ctrip announced it would buy Skyscanner.
It's unclear whether there were other bidders for Skyscanner other than the Chinese online travel agency and that isn’t something that Skyscanner CEO Gareth Williams is willing to discuss.
“We're not at liberty to go into that area,” he says.
He does however, admit that an IPO was in the works until Ctrip came along.
“Yes, all options were on the tab
