Google moves into online travel market with $700M acquisition , Michael Liedtke, AP via Globe and Mail (Jul 2)
Google must have some plans for a travel vertical or at the very least a service for booking flights.
"Google Inc. plans to buy travel technology company ITA Software Inc. in a $700-million (U.S.) deal that would enable the Internet search leader to steer more of the airline reservations booked on the Web.
The all-cash acquisition announced Thursday signals Google's intention to challenge flight-comparison services that are ITA customers, including Kayak, FareCompare, Hotwire and Microsoft Corp.’s Bing Travel. The deal is likely to face a rigorous review by federal antitrust regulators."
Posted by Gwen at July 9, 2010 02:10 PM