Expedia
Group is an American global travel technology company. Its websites,
which are primarily travel fare aggregators and travel metasearch
engines, include Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, CarRentals.com,
CheapTickets, trivago, Venere.com, Travelocity, Orbitz, and HomeAway.According to Rich Barton, the company's first CEO, the word "Expedia" is derived from a combination of exploration and speed.
History
Founded as a division of Microsoft in October 1996, Expedia was spun off in 1999.
In 2003, it was purchased by IAC/InterActiveCorp.
In August 2005, IAC spun off Expedia Inc., which owned its travel group of businesses, including Expedia, Expedia Corporate Travel (now Egencia), TripAdvisor, Classic Vacations, eLong, Hotels.com, and Hotwire.com.
In December 2011, Expedia, Inc. spin out TripAdvisor Media Group, retaining its portfolio of travel transaction brands.
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).
In 2012, Expedia's Egencia unit acquired Via Travel, the largest travel company in Norway. The acquisition boosted Expedia's total sales, making it the top earning travel company for 2013.
In 2014, Expedia acquired Wotif.com for $658 million.
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.
In 2015, Expedia acquired Orbitz for $1.2 billion in cash.
In July 2015, Expedia and Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com participated in an investment of $11M in Wingz.
In 2015, Expedia bought HomeAway for $3.9 billion.
In March 2017, Chelsea Clinton was named to the board of Expedia. In her newly named position, Ms. Clinton will get $45,000 a year in cash, plus $250,000 a year in stock vesting over three years.
In August 2017, Mark Okerstrom became the President and CEO of Expedia, Inc.
In March 2018, Expedia, Inc. announced it was changing its name to Expedia Group, Inc.
Mergers and acquisitions
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. IAC 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.
In January 2015, Expedia acquired the online travel agency Travelocity from the tech firm Sabre Corporation for $280 million.
