Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc. is an American travel company that owns and operates several international global online travel brands including eponymous Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, trivago, Egencia (formerly Expedia Corporate Travel), Venere.com, Expedia Local Expert, Classic Vacations, Expedia CruiseShipCenters, Travelocity, Orbitz and HomeAway. Expedia, Inc.’s companies operate more than 100 branded points of sale in more than 60 countries. Expedia also powers travel bookings for over 10,000 partners such as airlines and hotels, consumer brands, and high traffic websites through Expedia Affiliate Network, 80% of which is powered by their API.[4] Expedia Inc. is listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol EXPE.[5]
Contents
[hide]History[edit]
Founded as a division of Microsoft in October 1996, Expedia was spun off in 1999, and was later purchased by TicketMaster in 2001[6] (TicketMaster changed its name to USA Networks in 2001 and then InterActiveCorp in 2003[7]). IAC spun off its travel group of businesses under the Expedia, Inc. name in August 2005, including Expedia, Expedia Corporate Travel (now Egencia), TripAdvisor, Classic Vacations, eLong, Hotels.com, and Hotwire.com.[8] In late 2011, Expedia, Inc. spun out TripAdvisor Media Group, retaining its portfolio of travel transaction brands.[9] On December 21, 2012, Expedia bought a majority stake in travel metasearch engine Trivago in a combined cash and stock deal worth €477 million (approximately $630 million).[10]
According to Rich Barton, their first CEO, the word Expedia is derived from a combination of “exploration and speed” and contains the high-point scrabble letter "X."
In 2012, Expedia's Egencia unit acquired Via Travel, the largest travel company in Norway.[11] The acquisition boosted Expedia's total sales, making it the top earning travel company for 2013.
On July 6, 2014, it was announced that Expedia, Inc had agreed to buy Wotif.com Holdings Ltd, an online travel company that covers the Asia-Pacific region. Wotif's brands include Wotif.com, lastminute.com.au and travel.com.au.[13]
In October 2014, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approved Expedia's acquisition of Australian reservation service Wotif.com for $US610 million.[14]
In January 2015, Expedia acquired Travelocity from Sabre Corp for $280 million. Expedia previously partnered with Travelocity to provide the technology platform for Travelocity's US and Canada points of sale.[15]
In February 2015, Expedia agreed to acquire Orbitz for $1.2 billion in cash.[16] In September 2015 Expedia got approval from US antitrust officials to acquire Orbitz.[17]
South Carolina sales tax suit[edit]
On 18 January 2011 Travelscape, a subsidiary of Expedia Inc. based in Las Vegas, was ordered to pay $6.3 million in back sales taxes to South Carolina by the state's supreme court. Travelscape argued that South Carolina's efforts to tax online retailers located out-of-state violate the Dormant Commerce Clause. In a unanimous ruling the court determined that the company has a presence in the state sufficient to be required to collect sales tax. While Travelscape does not have physical facilities in South Carolina, the court determined that frequent sales trips made by its employees and the fact that the company furnished hotel rooms in the state establish its presence for tax purposes.[19]
Brands[edit]
- CarRentals.com
- CheapTickets
- Classic Vacations
- Ebookers
- Egencia - Previously known as Expedia Corporate Travel.
- Expedia
- Expedia Affiliate Network
- Expedia Local Expert
- Expedia Cruise Ship Centers
- HomeAway
- Hotels.com
- Hotwire Group
- Orbitz
- Travelocity
- trivago
- Venere.com
- wotif.com
Mergers and acquisitions[edit]
Expedia's first acquisition was Travelscape for US$89.75 million and VacationSpot.com for US$80 million on March 17, 2000. It subsequently acquired Classic Custom Vacations in March 2002 for $78 million. The company has made four divestments, in which parts of the company are sold to another company. On December 31, 2000, Technology Crossover Ventures acquired a 7% minority stake in Expedia for $50 million. USA Networks acquired a 65% majority stake in the company on February 5, 2002, for $1.372 billion, and a year later, on August 8, 2003, USA Interactive acquired Expedia for $3.636 billion. Expedia was ultimately spun off as a separate entity with a value of $7.981 billion. The company made the most acquisitions in 2002, when it acquired three companies: Classic Custom Vacations, Metropolitan Travel, and Newtrade Technologies.[20]
In January 2015, Expedia acquired the online travel agency Travelocity from the tech firm Sabre Corporation for $280 million.[21]
Acquisitions[edit]
| Date | Company | Business | Country | Value (USD) | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 17, 2000 | Travelscape | Internet service provider |  United States | $89,750,000 | [22] |
| March 17, 2001 | Vacationspot | Internet service provider | United States | $70,850,000 | [23] |
| March 11, 2002 | Classic Custom Vacations[note 1] | Travel agency | United States | $78,000,000 | [24] |
| July 11, 2002 | Metropolitan Travel | Travel agency | United States | — | [25] |
| October 28, 2002 | Newtrade Technologies | Reservation software |  Canada | — | [26] |
| April 5, 2004 | Activity World | Travel and touring | United States | — | [27] |
| April 12, 2004 | Egencia | Travel agency |  France | — | [28] |
| July 15, 2008 | Venere.com | Hotel Booking Engine |  Italy | €200,000,000 | [29] |
| October 18, 2010 | Mobiata | Mobile App Developer | United States | — | [30] |
| April 27, 2012 | VIA Travel | Travel Management Company |  Norway | — | [31] |
| March 12, 2013 | trivago GmbH | Hotel Metasearch Engine |  Germany | $564,000,000 | [32] |
| July 6, 2014 | Wotif | Travel Agency |  Australia | $657,000,000 | [33] |
| January 23, 2015 | Travelocity | Travel Agency | United States | $280,000,000 | [34] |
| September 17, 2015 | Orbitz | Travel Agency | United States | $1,600,000,000 | [35] |
| November 4, 2015 | HomeAway | Holiday Rental Service | United States | $3,900,000,000 | [36] |
Divestitures[edit]
| Date | Acquirer | Target company | Target business | Acquirer country | Value (USD) | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 31, 2000 | Technology Crossover Ventures | Expedia, Inc.[note 2] | Online travel | United States | $50,000,000 | [37] |
| February 5, 2002 | USA Networks | Expedia, Inc.[note 3] | Online travel | United States | $1,372,000,000 | [38] |
| August 8, 2003 | USA Interactive | Expedia, Inc.[note 4] | Online travel | United States | $3,636,000,000 | [39] |
| August 9, 2005 | IAC/InterActiveCorp | Expedia Inc.[note 5] | Online travel | United States | $7,981,000,000 | [40] |
Locations[edit]
Expedia Inc. maintains headquarters in downtown Bellevue, Washington, in a building named the Expedia Building. Expedia occupies floors 3 to 19 (and part of 20) of the 20 floor building, which completed construction in 2008. Initially, it was widely speculated that Google wanted to occupy most of the building, but a crane accident in 2006 caused delay and Google backed out of the project.[41]
On April 2, 2015, Expedia announced that they would move their headquarters to the Interbay neighborhood of Seattle by the end 2018, purchasing the Amgen campus on the Elliott Bay waterfront for $228.9 million.[42][43][44] As part of the move, Expedia is proposing an expansion of office space at the 41-acre (17 ha) campus to 1.23 million square feet (114,000 m2) to accommodate 4,500 employees, designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.[45][46]
The move was later pushed back to 2019, citing some logistical hurdles including the commute from the Eastside to Seattle as well as traffic congestion near the campus.[47] Incentives for employees to seek alternative forms of transportation were also announced, with the company exploring company shuttle services from park and rides in Redmond.[48]
Accolades[edit]
In 2008, Expedia was named to the most admired Internet companies in the United States list, released by Fortune. Expedia ranked third, after IAC and Google, and was followed by Amazon.com at fourth place.[49] National Travel, an affiliate of American Express Travel, announced it has added Expedia Vacations to its suite of travel vendors.
Expedia Inc. Ranks High on Fortune Most Admired List — For 2008, Expedia is ranked #3 in the Internet Service/Retailing industry, and is included in the list of most-admired companies in the state of Washington.[49]
Expedia Inc. Named One of “America’s Best Managed Companies” by Forbes — Forbes’ list of the 400 best managed, public American companies with $1 billion or more in revenues includes Expedia for the first time.[50]
