Expedia CEO Defends His Portfolio Despite Rivals' Recent Acquisitions
Skift Take
Expedia's CEO says his company has momentum moving into 2017, although we heard him express similar sentiments over the last two quarters and any surge wasn't particularly noticeable. This will likely be another transition year as Expedia's HomeAway gets more digital and Trivago feels its oats as a public company.
After a lackluster 2016 that he conceded had its "ups and downs for Expedia," as well as moves by Ctrip to acquire Skyscanner and the Priceline Group's acquisition of Momondo, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said he's "happy" with the company's portfolio mix of global online travel agencies, regional brands and Egencia in corporate travel.
"At this point the deals ahead of us will be driven more by opportunity than necessity," Khosrowshahi said during Expedia Inc.'s fourth quarter and full year 2016 earnings call Thursday.
He said the company faces "very big" growth opportunities from its Trivago hotel-metasearch unit, which went public in December, vacation rental leader HomeAway, and corporate travel agency Egencia, which is now a "scale" player and did $6.4 billion in gross bookings last year. Trivago, HomeAway, and Egencia, as well as brands including Expedia, Hotels.com, Orbitz Worldwide, Travelocity, and Wotif are all part of the Expedia family.
If merger and acquisition targets emerge, Expedia ended
