Tag Archives: expe

Priceline CEO Resigns After Inappropriate Employee Relationship

Priceline ( PCLN ) CEO Darren Huston resigned Thursday after an internal investigation into an inappropriate relationship with an employee, but shares were down just a fraction in morning trading. The sudden resignation is effective immediately. Huston resigned without severance and forfeited his unvested stock options, Cowen analyst Kevin Kopelman noted in a research report. Kopelman still rates Priceline stock outperform. Chairman Jeffery Boyd was tapped to lead Priceline as the board searches for Huston’s successor. Boyd served as Priceline CEO from 2002 to 2013 and was succeeded by Huston in January 2014 after a lengthy, planned transition. Booking.com President and COO Gillian Tans was named CEO of that key Amsterdam-based Priceline subsidiary. Boyd initially joined Priceline in September 2011, leaving Microsoft ( MSFT ) to take the Booking.com CEO position. Huston’s resignation stemmed from an independent board investigation into a personal relationship with an employee not under his direct supervision, Priceline said in a statement. “The investigation determined that Mr. Huston had acted contrary to the company’s code of conduct and had engaged in activities inconsistent with the board’s expectations for executive conduct,” Priceline said. Huston acknowledged the conduct and expressed regret, the company said. Priceline stock has risen 14% since January 2014, when Huston took the helm. On the stock market today , Priceline stock was trading up fractionally near 1,348. Shares of rival Expedia ( EXPE ) were up 2.5% Thursday morning, ahead of the company’s Q1 earnings report, due out after the close. Priceline is slated to report Q1 earnings before the open on Wednesday and is expected to post $2.12 billion in sales and $9.65 earnings per share minus items, up 15% and 19%, respectively, vs. the year-earlier quarter. Kopelman foresees minimal disruption stemming from Huston’s exit, but he notes that Priceline could have opened itself up to potential litigation. “It is difficult to gauge this risk, given details of Huston’s misconduct were not disclosed,” Kopelman wrote. “However, Priceline has commented to media outlets that the misconduct did not involve the company’s financial reporting or controls.” Indeed, Priceline spokeswoman Leslie Cafferty told IBD via email: “This did not involve issues about the company’s financial statements, accounting or internal controls over financial reporting. This resignation was not related in any way to the company’s operational performance or financial condition.” RBC analyst Mark Mahaney reiterated his outperform rating on Priceline stock. Boyd’s return will provide “continuity, experience and leadership,” he wrote in a report. Tans’ role as Booking.com CEO is also a key positive, he said. Priceline’s fundamentals remain strong, Mahaney said. “These trends constitute one of the most robust growth and profitability profiles across the Internet sector,” he wrote.

Expedia’s HomeAway Slapped With Lawsuit By Property Owner

A property owner who is also an alternative-accommodations host has filed a lawsuit in federal court against Expedia ( EXPE )-owned HomeAway. The suit seeks class-action status. The suit is centered around a recent change that HomeAway made to its booking fees, which is how the company makes money. Previously only the owner of the rental property charged travelers a booking fee. Now both HomeAway and the property owner charge fees. The change has frustrated some  home owners and property managers , who are struggling with how they convey the changes to travelers. In the complaint filed in the Western District of Texas federal court, the plaintiff claims that HomeAway’s decision to change the fee structure will cause her monetary damages and that it represented a breach of contract. The suit also claims that HomeAway has violated a range of consumer protection statutes. The lawsuit alleges 10 causes for action in all. HomeAway spokesman Jordan Hoefar said that company policy was not to comment on pending litigation. When asked why the company elected to make the fee change, Hoefar wrote via email that the new fee structure will help the company fund fraud protection, “more integrated advertising and promotions” and other things. Competitor Airbnb also charges travelers booking fees. Airbnb and HomeAway let people rent their homes, or rooms in their homes, to travelers. Expedia online travel rival Priceline ( PCLN ) also offers alternative accommodations . Expedia is set to report Q1 earnings on April 27, after the market close.

Airbnb Threat To Priceline, Expedia Overstated: Analyst

Though Airbnb continues to make headlines over its disruption of the travel industry , new research says that online travel agency kings Expedia ( EXPE ) and Priceline ( PCLN ) shouldn’t be as concerned as the hype suggests. In fact, Cowen analyst Kevin Kopelman says in a research report Monday that Airbnb’s competitive pressure on the hotel industry may drive such businesses to further embrace Expedia, Priceline and TripAdvisor ( TRIP ). Airbnb is an online service that lets people rent homes, rooms in homes, and apartments to travelers. The report, based on a survey of 1,400 travelers, also indicated that Airbnb customers aren’t abandoning hotels at all — quite the opposite. It found that 99% used hotels and that many respondents predicted increasing their use of hotels in the coming year. And 72% of those surveyed said that they would consider an Airbnb competitor. All the major online travel agencies are making heavy investments in so-called alternative accommodations, or Airbnb-like inventory. Airbnb has come under fire as of late in its home city of San Francisco after the municipal government released a report indicating that most of its “hosts” — what Airbnb calls people renting property on the platform — aren’t obeying regulations . It’s unclear the extent to which illegal rentals on the site — it’s an issue in other major markets such as New York City as well — will have on the privately held company’s top line. According to the Wall Street Journal , Airbnb may have hauled in $850 million in revenue last year. In 2015, Airbnb waged a campaign to fight proposed new regulations that would have further tightened the short-term rental market in San Francisco. The company spent more than $8 million in fighting and defeating the proposed measure . Airbnb’s opponents have vowed to continue to fight. In early afternoon trading on the stock market today , Priceline stock was up a fraction, near 1,281. Highly rated — its IBD Composite Rating is 92, where 99 is the highest — Priceline is forming a cup-with-handle base with a buy point of 1,371.63. TripAdvisor stock was down more than 2% Monday afternoon, while Expedia stock was flat. Those companies have weak CRs of 50 and 58, respectively. Image provided by Shutterstock .