Yahoo Finance! (with help from Reuters) is reporting that Expedia shares are up on rumours of a takeover by Google. The source of the rumours is list as Susquehanna Financial Group. Apparently the call volume from clients is off the hook. This comes a couple of days after the announcement of integration between Expedia and Google Maps allowing for instant Expedia hotel bookings on the Google map page. What do you think - an April gag or a real chance that Google wants into Travel in the biggest way possible??UPDATE -looks like founder and ex-CEO Rich Barton agrees that should be a joke. Quoted in the seattlepi.com as saying that this deal was a "head scratcher" and did not make sense for Google who "does such a good job skimming all of the really high margin profits from the travel media business". I agree.
SOunds like a Joke. EXPEDIA is a scam (source: http://www.expedianews.com)
ReplyDeleteIf Google decide to buy EXPEDIA it might be good for travelers. At least Google don't have such a bad reputation.
This is not a joke and should be taken serioulsy by Expedia's competitors. Another good buy if so for google who can encorporate Myspace with tripadvisor and Expedia and Google maps.
ReplyDeleteI would think buying a meta-search travel company would make more sense. It's more about connecting rather than content.
ReplyDeleteIf Google were stupid enough to buy Expedia ( yesterdays travel site) then they would risk alienating about 70% of their current travel advertisor base, who consist of Expedia's competitors and suppliers direct. I agree with Adam, Google would be better of buying a Kayak type meta search.
ReplyDeleteExpedia has to be the slowest damn travel site around with 10 year old technology.....they are the polar oppoistite to Google
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