Business

Expedia to buy HomeAway for $3.9B

Travel booking site Expedia has agreed to buy publicly traded vacation rental company HomeAway for $3.9 billion, the companies announced today. That was worth 37.86 at Wednesday’s close, but closer to 39 after hours. “Bringing HomeAway into the Expedia Inc. family … is a logical next step”. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 137,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,346,336.25.

Bellevue, Washington-based Expedia has had a partnership with HomeAway for two years. HomeAway offers various value added services to managers and property owners as well as to travelers, which include Carefree Rental Guarantee, Insurance Products and Tax Filing Services.

“In this way, I believe our combination with Expedia will turbocharge our growth and industry leadership for many years to come”.

The new acquisition would boost Expedia’s efforts to compete with online travel aggregators like Kayak and the fast-growing Airbnb, which allows property dwellers to rent a room or an entire residence for short-term stays.

“Alternative accommodations are a strategic hole for EXPE, and AWAY will fill that gap”, Guggenheim analyst Jake Fuller wrote in a note late Wednesday.

The sum will be made up of cash and Expedia common stock, representing a per share price for HomeAway shares of $38.31.

The Austin, Texas-based HomeAway was founded back in 2005. In January of this year, Expedia paid $280 million to acquire competitor Travelocity. Revenue grew 16% to $1.94 billion, falling just shy of forecasts for $1.95 billion.

Expedia completed its $1.6 billion buyout of domestic rival Orbitz Worldwide in September. (NASDAQ:AWAY) reported earnings of $0.02 for the quarter ending on 2015-06-30. The company had a trading volume of 759,435 shares.

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