Expedia Inc acquires Travelocity

NEW YORK: Expedia Inc has acquired online travel agency Travelocity from technology company Sabre Corp for $280 million in cash, the companies said in a statement on Friday, as consolidation in the online booking industry continues.
The deal follows a 2013 marketing agreement in which Expedia Inc’s technology powered platforms for Travelocity’s US and Canadian websites, while Travelocity drove additional web traffic to Expedia. The merger marks further consolidation in the online booking space, which has seen a number of acquisitions from Expedia Inc’s main competitor, The Priceline Group, including its $2.6 billion takeover of restaurant reservation website OpenTable last year.
“Given the success that they’ve had with integrating Travelocity into Brand Expedia (through the 2013 agreement), it’s a positive outcome,” said S&P Capital IQ analyst Tuna Amobi.
Expedia Inc, which owns brands ranging from the website that carries its name to Hotels.com and China’s eLong, said in its October quarterly filing that its air ticket volumes grew 29 percent for the first three quarters of 2014, “primarily due to volume driven by Brand Expedia’s agreement with Travelocity along with ongoing improvements for the Brand Expedia sites themselves.”