Expedia
Expedia Group is a global travel company. Its websites, which are primarily travel fare aggregators and travel metasearch engines, include Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, CarRentals.com, 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.
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. spun 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 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, Mrs. 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.
Source: Wikipedia
