7 ms·

Surprised there are no anti-trust concerns.

by smackfu 12y ago

kelukelugames 12y ago
why would there be? priceline is already bigger than expedia. source: know people who work at both places and internet. https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3APCLN&ei=j8zcVNvlGoH_igL744D4DA https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3APCLN&ei=j8zcVNvlGo... https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AEXPE&ei=1czcVIimKrC1iAK124DgCA https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AEXPE&ei=1czcVIimKr... look at profits and market cap.
- colinbartlett 12y ago
  Who uses Priceline? Do they have any other brands besides their main one? I always thinking of them as that "name your own price" thing, the mechanics of which never appealed to me.
- milesskorpen 12y ago
  Should clarify that "Priceline" is primarily Booking.com, not the amusing pricing opacity company out of CT (even if they did make the good decision to buy Booking.com years back).
  - kelukelugames 12y ago
    Do you have a source that most of their traffic is from booking.com?
    - smackfu 12y ago
      Priceline breaks down their financials into domestic and international bookings, based on the location of the unit doing the booking. Booking.com is based in Amsterdam so is counted as international bookings, along with agoda.com and some rental car service. Priceline is domestic. For the latest quarter, the booking numbers were $12B foreign vs $1.7B for domestic.
    - avar 12y ago
      From Priceline's annual report in 2013 (the 2014 version is not released yet) filed with the SEC[1]: During the year ended December 31, 2013, our international business (the substantial majority of which is generated by Booking.com) represented approximately 85% of our gross bookings (an operating and statistical metric referring to the total dollar value, generally inclusive of all taxes and fees, of all travel services purchased by our customers), and approximately 94% of our consolidated operating income. Disclaimer: I work for Booking.com, but it's not like SEC reports are privileged information. That Booking.com is most of the Priceline group is obvious to anyone who looks up SEC filings. 1. http://ir.pricelinegroup.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1075531-14-7&CIK=1075531 http://ir.pricelinegroup.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1075531-...
    - milesskorpen 12y ago
      I work for them.
burger_moon 12y ago
In this article from Reuters [0] their CFO stated that they only hold a single digit market share in the travel industry. "The possibility of antitrust issues was played down by Expedia's Chief Financial Office Mark Okerstrom who said, "It is a $1.3 trillion industry and is highly fragmented ... We are only a small player and our overall share is in single digits."" [0] http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/12/us-orbitz-worldwide-m-a-expedia-idUSKBN0LG1OA20150212 http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/12/us-orbitz-worldwid...
- Someone1234 12y ago
  That's a ridiculous argument by their CEO. That is like saying Microsoft Office only holds a single digit percentage of revenue in the technology sector. It might technically be true, but it is irrelevant. MS Office has a monopolist hold on the office software space. Monopolies aren't defined by someone who controls an entire sector (a "sector" is arbitrary anyway) it is when one specific company controls one commodity or service (see Google Search, which both the EU and US have called a monopoly). Expedia absolutely has a monopoly on travel price comparison sites now. However it only becomes an antitrust complaint when they leverage that position into other markets (e.g. like Windows with Internet Explorer, or Google with Google+). So while I don't think Expedia has broken any laws, yet. I will say that if they started using their newfound position for leverage I'd hope the US and EU governments stepped on them pretty fast.
  - paulhauggis 12y ago
    "it is when one specific company controls one commodity or service" There are plenty of office alternatives, including open office. Here is a list of 10: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-microsoft-office-alternatives/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-microsoft-office... Google also has competition: Bing, Yahoo, and Baidu to name a few. "Expedia absolutely has a monopoly on travel price comparison sites now." There are many other travel comparison sites. How can they possibly have a monopoly?
  - matheweis 12y ago
    Ridiculous, maybe, but it shows he knows exactly what he is doing, and it should be totally expected. Peter Thiel talked about this in Sam's startup class: "...anyone who has a monopoly will pretend that they are in incredible competition ... The basic lie you tell as a monopoly is the market you’re in is much bigger than it looks." - Lecture 5: Competition is For Losers http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec05/ http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec05/
ojbyrne 12y ago
'While the online travel booking space is still fairly crowded, Mr. Moore said that the deal will still receive “a substantial amount of scrutiny” from antitrust regulators. He cites the Federal Trade Commission’s study of Zillow Inc $3.5 billion acquisition of Trulia Inc as a good comparison. The deal which was announced in July 2014 is still being reviewed by regulators.' http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/02/12/investors-like-the-expedia-orbitz-combination-but-its-not-a-done-deal/ http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/02/12/investors-like-the...

Surprised there are no anti-trust concerns.

by smackfu 12y ago

Surprised there are no anti-trust concerns.

why would there be? priceline is already bigger than expedia. source: know people who work at both places and internet. https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3APCLN&ei=j8zcVNvlGoH_igL744D4DA https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3APCLN&ei=j8zcVNvlGo... https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AEXPE&ei=1czcVIimKrC1iAK124DgCA https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AEXPE&ei=1czcVIimKr... look at profits and market cap.

colinbartlett 12y ago
Who uses Priceline? Do they have any other brands besides their main one? I always thinking of them as that "name your own price" thing, the mechanics of which never appealed to me.
milesskorpen 12y ago
Should clarify that "Priceline" is primarily Booking.com, not the amusing pricing opacity company out of CT (even if they did make the good decision to buy Booking.com years back).
- kelukelugames 12y ago
  Do you have a source that most of their traffic is from booking.com?
  - smackfu 12y ago
    Priceline breaks down their financials into domestic and international bookings, based on the location of the unit doing the booking. Booking.com is based in Amsterdam so is counted as international bookings, along with agoda.com and some rental car service. Priceline is domestic. For the latest quarter, the booking numbers were $12B foreign vs $1.7B for domestic.
  - avar 12y ago
    From Priceline's annual report in 2013 (the 2014 version is not released yet) filed with the SEC[1]: During the year ended December 31, 2013, our international business (the substantial majority of which is generated by Booking.com) represented approximately 85% of our gross bookings (an operating and statistical metric referring to the total dollar value, generally inclusive of all taxes and fees, of all travel services purchased by our customers), and approximately 94% of our consolidated operating income. Disclaimer: I work for Booking.com, but it's not like SEC reports are privileged information. That Booking.com is most of the Priceline group is obvious to anyone who looks up SEC filings. 1. http://ir.pricelinegroup.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1075531-14-7&CIK=1075531 http://ir.pricelinegroup.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1075531-...
  - milesskorpen 12y ago
    I work for them.

burger_moon 12y ago

In this article from Reuters [0] their CFO stated that they only hold a single digit market share in the travel industry. "The possibility of antitrust issues was played down by Expedia's Chief Financial Office Mark Okerstrom who said, "It is a $1.3 trillion industry and is highly fragmented ... We are only a small player and our overall share is in single digits."" [0] http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/12/us-orbitz-worldwide-m-a-expedia-idUSKBN0LG1OA20150212 http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/12/us-orbitz-worldwid...

Someone1234 12y ago
That's a ridiculous argument by their CEO. That is like saying Microsoft Office only holds a single digit percentage of revenue in the technology sector. It might technically be true, but it is irrelevant. MS Office has a monopolist hold on the office software space. Monopolies aren't defined by someone who controls an entire sector (a "sector" is arbitrary anyway) it is when one specific company controls one commodity or service (see Google Search, which both the EU and US have called a monopoly). Expedia absolutely has a monopoly on travel price comparison sites now. However it only becomes an antitrust complaint when they leverage that position into other markets (e.g. like Windows with Internet Explorer, or Google with Google+). So while I don't think Expedia has broken any laws, yet. I will say that if they started using their newfound position for leverage I'd hope the US and EU governments stepped on them pretty fast.
- paulhauggis 12y ago
  "it is when one specific company controls one commodity or service" There are plenty of office alternatives, including open office. Here is a list of 10: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-microsoft-office-alternatives/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-microsoft-office... Google also has competition: Bing, Yahoo, and Baidu to name a few. "Expedia absolutely has a monopoly on travel price comparison sites now." There are many other travel comparison sites. How can they possibly have a monopoly?
- matheweis 12y ago
  Ridiculous, maybe, but it shows he knows exactly what he is doing, and it should be totally expected. Peter Thiel talked about this in Sam's startup class: "...anyone who has a monopoly will pretend that they are in incredible competition ... The basic lie you tell as a monopoly is the market you’re in is much bigger than it looks." - Lecture 5: Competition is For Losers http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec05/ http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec05/

ojbyrne 12y ago

'While the online travel booking space is still fairly crowded, Mr. Moore said that the deal will still receive “a substantial amount of scrutiny” from antitrust regulators. He cites the Federal Trade Commission’s study of Zillow Inc $3.5 billion acquisition of Trulia Inc as a good comparison. The deal which was announced in July 2014 is still being reviewed by regulators.' http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/02/12/investors-like-the-expedia-orbitz-combination-but-its-not-a-done-deal/ http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/02/12/investors-like-the...