Expedia Group is an American online travel shopping company for consumer and small business travel. Its websites, which are primarily travel fare aggregators and travel metasearch engines, include CarRentals.com, Expedia.com, HomeAway, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, trivago and Vrbo. 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 into a public company in 1999. In 2001, IAC/InterActiveCorp bought a controlling interest in the company for an estimated $1.5 billion. In 2003, it was fully purchased by IAC/InterActiveCorp. In August 2005, IAC spun off Expedia Inc., which owned its travel group of businesses, including Expedia, Expedia Corporate Travel, 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 engineTrivago in a combined cash and stock deal worth €477 million. In 2012, Expedia's Egencia unit acquired Via Travel, the largest travel company in Norway. 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 $1.6 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 that it had changed its name to Expedia Group, Inc. On Dec. 4, 2019, Mark Okerstrom and Alan Pickerill resigned as CEO and CFO, respectively. At that time, Expedia Group's chairman, Barry Diller, took over day-to-day operations, while the Chief Strategy Officer, Eric Hart, became acting CFO. In February, 2020, Expedia announced it was cutting 3,000 jobs, roughly 12% of the workforce, citing a "disappointing 2019." Diller, in his role as acting CEO, stated the company had become “sclerotic and bloated” and that employees were “all life and no work.” On 23 April 2020, Peter Kern was appointed as CEO of Expedia Group.
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.
On January 18, 2011, Travelscape, a subsidiary of Expedia Inc. based in Las Vegas, was ordered to pay $6.3 million in back sales taxes to South Carolina by the state's supreme court. Travelscape argued that South Carolina's efforts to tax online retailers located out-of-state violate the Dormant Commerce Clause. In a unanimous ruling, the court determined that the company has a presence in the state sufficient to be required to collect sales tax. While Travelscape does not have physical facilities in South Carolina, the court determined that frequent sales trips made by its employees and the fact that the company furnished hotel rooms in the state establish its presence for tax purposes.
Office locations
Expedia Group has its headquarters on Elliott Bay in Seattle. On April 2, 2015, Expedia announced that it would move its headquarters to the Interbay neighborhood of Seattle by the end of 2018, purchasing the Amgen campus on the Elliott Bay waterfront for $228.9 million. As part of the move, Expedia is proposing an expansion of office space at the campus to to accommodate employees, designed by ZGF Architects. The move was later delayed to 2019, citing some logistical hurdles including the commute from the Eastside to Seattle as well as traffic congestion near the campus. Incentives for employees to seek alternative forms of transportation were also announced, with the company exploring company shuttle services from park and rides in Redmond. In addition to the campus, Expedia gained ownership of the Helix bridge, now named Expedia Group Bridge, and a plot of land now used as a transportation hub for Expedia employees.
Accolades
In 2008, CNN Money ranked Expedia third in the "Internet Services and Retailing" sector of its list of most admired companies in the United States.
