Expedia, Inc.

Expedia, Inc. () is an American company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington that operates several travel brands including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Egencia (formerly Expedia Corporate Travel), TripAdvisor, Expedia Local Expert, Classic Vacations and eLong. Expedia, Inc.’s companies operate more than 90 branded points of sale in more than 60 countries. Expedia also powers travel bookings for a number of airlines and hotels, consumer brands, high traffic websites, and thousands of active affiliates through Expedia Affiliate Network. It is part of both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ-100 stock market indices.
== History ==
Founded as a division of Microsoft in 1996, Expedia was spun off in 1999, and was later purchased by TicketMaster in 2001Expedia Press Room - Press Releases (TicketMaster changed its name to USA Networks in 2001 and then InterActiveCorp in 2003USA Interactive to Change Name to InterActiveCorp iac.com). IAC spun off its travel group of businesses under the Expedia, Inc. name in August 2005, including Expedia, Expedia Corporate Travel (now Egencia), TripAdvisor, Classic Vacations, eLong, Hotels.com, and Hotwire.com.IAC Completes Spin-Off of Expedia, Inc., ExpediaInc.com, press release
==South Carolina sales tax suit==
On 18 January 2011 Travelscape, a subsidiary of Expedia 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.Travelscape told to pay back sales-tax revenue, by Valerie Miller, Las Vegas Business Press, 31 January 2011
==Officers and directors==
===Corporate management===
* Barry Diller: Chairman of the Board, Senior Executive
* Victor A. Kaufman: Vice Chairman
* Dara Khosrowshahi: President and CEO
* Michael Adler: Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
* Burke F. Norton: Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
* Edmond Mesrobian: Chief Technology Officer
* Mark Okerstrom: Senior Vice President of Corporate Development
* Patricia Zucotti: Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer
===Business management===
* Dhiren Fonseca: Co-President, Expedia Partner Services Group
* Gary Fritz: Co-President, Expedia Partner Services Group
* Scott Durchslag: President, Expedia Worldwide
* David Roche: President, hotels.com Worldwide and Venere.com
* Clem Bason: President, Hotwire Group
* Stephen Kaufer: President and Chief Executive Officer, TripAdvisor.com
* Henrik Kjellberg: President, Expedia Affiliate Network
* Rob Greyber: President, Egencia
* Greg Bernd: Co-President, Classic Vacations
* David Hu: Co-President, Classic Vacations
* Guangfu Cui: Chief Executive Officer, eLong, Inc.
== Brands ==
Classic Vacations
eLong.com
Egencia
Previously known as Expedia Corporate Travel.
Expedia.com
Expedia Local Expert
Hotels.com
Hotels.com is an operating company of Expedia, Inc. that provides reservation services for hotel rooms and other places to stay.
The company was founded in Dallas, TX in 1991 as Hotel Reservations Network (HRN) by Dave Litman and Bob Diener as a toll-free telephone service, offering consumers a one-stop source for discounted hotel rooms in major cities. In 2002 HRN introduced Hotels.com and the brand 1-800-2-Hotels.
Hotwire Group
TripAdvisor
SeatGuru.com
Venere.com
== Competitors ==
* Priceline.com
* Orbitz
* Travelocity
==Mergers and acquisitions==
Expedia's first and largest 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. USA Networks 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.
===Acquisitions===
Date	Company 	Business 	Country	Value (USD)	References
 	Travelscape 	Internet service provider	 	$ 	
 	Vacationspot 	Internet service provider	 	$ 	
 	Classic Custom VacationsClassic Custom Vacations was acquired from Global Vacation Group.	Travel agency 	 	$ 	
 	Metropolitan Travel 	Travel agency 	 	— 	
 	Newtrade Technologies 	Reservation software 	 	— 	
 	Activity World 	Travel and touring 	 	— 	
 	Egencia 	Travel agency 	 	— 	
 	Mobiata 	Mobile App Developer 	 	— 	
===Divestitures===
Date	Acquirer 	Target company 	Target business	Acquirer country	Value (USD)	References
 	Technology Crossover Ventures	Expedia, Inc.Technology Crossover Ventures acquired a 7% minority stake in Expedia, Inc.	Online travel 	 	$ 	
 	USA Networks 	Expedia, Inc.USA Networks acquired a 65% majority stake of Expedia, Inc. 	Online travel 	 	$ 	
 	USA Interactive 	Expedia, Inc.USA Interactive acquired remaining interests in Expedia, Inc. 	Online travel 	 	$ 	
 	IAC/InterActiveCorp 	Expedia, Inc.IAC/InterActiveCorp spun off Expedia, Inc. 	Online travel 	 	$ 	
== Locations ==
Expedia, Inc. maintains headquarters in downtown Bellevue, Washington, in a building named the Expedia Building. Expedia occupies floors 3 to 18 (and part of 20) of the 20 floor building, which completed construction in 2008. Initially, it was widely speculated that Google wanted to occupy most of the building, but a crane accident in 2006 caused delay and Google backed out of the project."Expedia moving to downtown Bellevue", article in Seattle P-I, June 27, 2007
== Accolades ==
In 2008, Expedia was named to the most admired Internet companies in the United States list, released by Fortune. Expedia ranked third, after IAC and Google, and was followed by Amazon.com at fourth place.
National Travel, an affiliate of American Express Travel, announced it has added Expedia Vacations to its suite of travel vendors.
Expedia, Inc. Ranks High on Fortune Most Admired List — For 2008, Expedia is ranked #3 in the Internet Service/Retailing industry, and is included in the list of most-admired companies in the state of Washington.
Expedia, Inc. Named One of “America’s Best Managed Companies” by Forbes — Forbes’ list of the 400 best managed, public American companies with $1 billion or more in revenues includes Expedia for the first time.
==Notes==
==References==
==External links==
* Company Homepage
* Travel Agents
Category:Companies established in 1995
Category:Online travel agencies
Category:Online retailers
Category:Open Travel Alliance
Category:Companies based in Washington (state)
Category:Companies based in Bellevue, Washington
Category:Online retail companies of the United States
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