DOJ approves deal

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Expedia has completed its acquisition of Orbitz Worldwide, a deal that represents an enterprise value of $1.6 billion.

The deal is the latest significant acquisition for Expedia, which also acquired Travelocity at the beginning of this year.

“We are pleased to welcome Orbitz Worldwide to our family of leading travel brands,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, Expedia, Inc. Chief Executive Officer. “Our mission is to revolutionize travel through the power of technology. Given Orbitz’s focus on transforming the way consumers around the world plan and book travel, we couldn’t be more aligned. As we bring our talented teams and capabilities together, we will be well positioned to accelerate the pace of innovation to deliver even better customer experiences to Orbitz’s loyal customer base and to further enhance the marketing and distribution capabilities we offer to our global supply partners.”

The deal was completed after the Department of Justice did not object to the merger of two major travel industry players.

“We know online travel booking is important to US consumers and to the airlines, car rental companies and hotels that serve those consumers,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Over the course of a six-month investigation, lawyers and economists from the Antitrust Division reviewed tens of thousands of business documents, analyzed transactional data from the merging companies and from other industry players and interviewed over 60 industry participants of various types and sizes. The Antitrust Division investigated the concerns that have been expressed about this transaction.  We took those concerns seriously and factored into our analysis all of the information provided by third parties.  At the end of this process, however, we concluded that the acquisition is unlikely to harm competition and consumers.”