Expedia is further digging its heels into the domestic travel-booking market with its announced acquisition Thursday of Orbitz Worldwide, after the online travel agency shopped abroad last year to compete with archrival Priceline. The $1.6 billion, $12-a-share Orbitz (OWW) deal is the latest in a string of purchases for Bellevue, Wash.-based Expedia (EXPE), which announced just three weeks ago that it bought Travelocity for $280
Just weeks after completing the purchase of Travelocity, online travel service Expedia (EXPE) said it is also acquiring rival Orbitz Worldwide (OWW) for an enterprise value of $1.6 billion, or $12 a share in cash. Shares of Hotels.com and Hotwire operator Expedia rose 12.8% to 88.23 in the stock market today. Shares of Orbitz, which operates CheapTickets and HotelClub, surged 20.8% to 11.63. Both companies’ boards of directors have approved the
Expedia (EXPE) stock plunged Friday, after the global online travel agency late Thursday reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that missed views on adverse currency factors and China-unit losses. Some analysts cut their price target on the stock. Bellevue, Wash.-based Expedia earned 86 cents a share excluding items, down 7% from the year-earlier quarter and 15 cents below the average estimate of 25 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Sales