by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 8:35 AM ET, Fri October 18, 2024
Rumors fly even in big business, and this week, it’s about Uber reportedly considering purchasing travel booking company Expedia.
According to CNBC, the talks are currently confidential and are in the very early stages, which means it could go nowhere, but could also lead to a big shift in both company’s strategies. The initial rumor came from The Financial Times, to which three anonymous individuals familiar with the companies reported.
While the two companies may seem unrelated at first glance, Uber’s current CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, served as Expedia Group’s CEO from 2005 to 2017, and continues serving as a nonexecutive member of the group’s board.
While Uber is worth around $168 million and has been doing well financially this past year, Expedia Group has faced more competition from other booking engines, leading to worse performance this year than in the past, and is currently worth around $20 billion.
The group owns several travel booking engines, including Vrbo, Expedia, Hotels.com, travelocity, Orbitz, trivago and more.
While it remains to be seen if an acquisition will be taking place in the next year, it’s certain that an acquisition would change both Uber and Expedia Group forever.
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