Monday, October 15, 2007

WHOOT: Webjet are out - it is all over bar the AOTing

It seems smooth sailing now for Wotif in their chase for the Travel.com.au ownership title. The Travel.com.au board have backed Wotif, Wotif have their hands on 19.5% of the stock and Webjet have just announced that they are pulling out of the running. Webjet MD David Clarke is quoted in Travel Today as saying
"We wish Wotif the best. Time will tell whether the value Wotif attributed to the business is prudent. We did not believe it was for our shareholders but Wotif’s shareholders and board may have different perspectives."
This does not mean that we at the WHOOT are calling it all over in the battle for WHoever Owns Outright Travel.com.au. There is still the matter of AOT's shareholding and if this battle has taught us one thing it is that ain't over 'til its over.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Assuming they reach the full acceptance level on the offer, that puts a 55 mill value on TVL.com according to The Oz IT Section. Thats for a company that has never made a quid and whose air booking engine is reputed to be the least robust in the business. Seems like alot of dough just to eliminate the competition in lastmin.com. and buy abit more hotel distribution and a consumer database, then again we are approaching the silly season. mmmm interesting but good luck lads.