How Kayak Fared 10 Years After Priceline's Offer to Buy It

25.08.2023 - 14:38 / skift.com / Dennis Schaal / Rafat Ali

Ten years ago this week, on November 9, 2012, the Priceline Group (today’s Booking Holdings) announced a deal to acquire Kayak, the Connecticut-based metasearch engine, which had been a public company for less than four months.

“A bomb just dropped in the online travel world: Priceline the world’s largest travel company, has agreed to acquire travel meta-search company Kayak, for about $1.8 billion,” wrote Skift founder Rafat Ali, adding, “Priceline will gain a great online and mobile team to build its portfolio and will put muscle behind the Kayak brand.” After regulatory scrutiny, Priceline welcomed Kayak into the fold on May 21, 2013.

To understand the context, Kayak was among the hottest things in U.S. online travel in those days, although Google had acquired flight-tech company ITA Software in 2011.

When Kayak, which was co-founded in 2004 by Steve Hafner and Paul English, went public on Nasdaq on July 20, 2012, Skift published a blog with around 18 updates documenting every move that day. When the closing bell clanged on its initial trading day, Kayak’s share price had increased 26 percent to $33.18, while 70 percent of Nasdaq’s other listings headed downward.

So what has been the outcome for Kayak so far under Booking Holdings, and in an era when Google’s fight and hotel metasearch products have established a global footprint and sucked some of the life out of numerous competitors? From a financial standpoint, It’s tough to say with certainty because Booking doesn’t reveal much about Kayak’s earnings.

Asked about Kayak’s fate under Booking Holdings over the last nine-plus years, Kayak CEO Hafner told Skift: “We don’t report numbers, but I can assure you that our business has prospered since the acquisition. Booking Holdings has supported our international expansion (from 14 countries to over 40), mergers and acquisitions (more than $550 million for Momondo and Hotelscombined), and anything else that we’ve tried like Kayak Miami Beach.”

Kayak/Booking Holdings acquired metasearch companies Momondo in 2017 and Hotelscombined in 2018. In partnership with hotel operator Life House, there are now three Kayak-branded hotels, one in Miami Beach, Florida, and two in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

“If it hadn’t worked, I still wouldn’t be at Kayak,” Hafner said, contrasting his tenure of 18 years or so at Kayak with leadership changes over the years at Expedia-controlled Trivago and Trip.com Group-owned Skyscanner.

One person close to Kayak, who has some knowledge of Kayak’s financials, said “they continue to crush it.”

Google has certainly adversely impacted Kayak’s stature. And at times one has to question whether Booking Holdings could be committing more advertising and marketing dollars to keep Kayak