After a lackluster 2016 that he conceded had its “ups and downs for Expedia,” as well as moves by Ctrip to acquire Skyscannerand the Priceline Group’s acquisition of Momondo, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said he’s “happy” with the company’s portfolio mix of global online travel agencies, regional brands and Egencia in corporate travel.
“At this point the deals ahead of us will be driven more by opportunity than necessity,” Khosrowshahi said during Expedia Inc.’s fourth quarter and full year 2016 earnings call Thursday.
He said the company faces “very big” growth opportunities from its Trivago hotel-metasearch unit, which went public in December, vacation rental leader HomeAway, and corporate travel agency Egencia, which is now a “scale” player and did $6.4 billion in gross bookings last year. Trivago, HomeAway, and Egencia, as well as brands including Expedia, Hotels.com, Orbitz Worldwide, Travelocity, and Wotif are all part of the Expedia family.
If merger and acquisition targets emerge, Expedia ended 2016 with $1.9 billion in cash, including $1.2 billion of it offshore. As part of a declaration in support of the Washington and Minnesota’s lawsuit against the Trump administration’s travel ban from certain Muslim-majority countries, an Expedia official noted that the company’s motto for 2017 is “Go Global.”
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