Articles tagged “orbitz”

Unlike in the Google-ITA Software acquisition process, there is no organized, public campaign to stop Expedia's acquisition of Orbitz. But that doesn't man that competitors aren't whispering to the DOJ that the deal is bad for competition.

Lots of supposedly smart travel industry folks in recent years mused that no company would be interested in buying Orbitz. They were obviously wrong. Expedia will pay $1.34 billion, another company submitted a bid, and a whole bunch of other companies kicked the tires.

If competitors' paranoia were true, TripAdvisor might have jumped at the chance of acquiring Orbitz Worldwide to jumpstart TripAdvisor's metamorphosis into a full-fledged online travel agency. TripAdvisor kept its feet on the ground and wasn't interested.

Expedia Inc. has been tacking on assets to bump up its growth and the Travelocity Partner Network, owned by Orbitz Worldwide, meshes with Expedia's growth strategy.

There are enough parallels in the way that the Zillow-Trulia merger made it through the antitrust regulatory process that you can almost bet the house that the Expedia-Orbitz Worldwide merger will squeak through as well.

Independent hotels and chains will all feel the impact of the consolidation of Orbitz Worldwide into Expedia Inc. Independents didn't have much clout before the acquisition, and the chains will feel the pressure, too.

The antitrust prospects of Expedia Inc.'s $1.6 billion acquisition of Orbitz Worldwide hinge on which prism competition authorities choose to view the deal. Expedia would have a 75 percent share of the U.S. online travel agency market but consumers have plenty of other ways to book their trips, too.

Building an online flight business, with all of the inherent complexities, is very difficult work. Expedia Inc. is going to throw some more money at it, and it can make gains while providing an additional differentiator from Booking.com, which offers lodging only.

Don't expect the buying binge and consolidation in online travel to slow down any time soon. Expedia, the Priceline Group and TripAdvisor all intend to keep on acquiring puzzle pieces in 2015. HomeAway anyone?

Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, CheapTickets, Hotels.com, Hotwire, and Trivago -- they would all belong to Expedia Inc. if this Expedia-Orbitz deal gets approved by regulators. It's nice to be king -- although Priceline and Booking.com may have something to say about that.