Etraveli tips

Booking Holdings, whose $1.8 billion deal to acquire Sweden’s eTraveli Group was blocked by European Commission earlier this year, paid out $90 million in termination fee this October, according to a nugget in its latest quarterly statement.

Booking Holdings reported a record number of room nights booked in the third quarter and strong gains in its flights business. It expects growth to continue but noted a caveat: Business has slowed down in the Middle East because of the Israel-Hamas war and the company’s current forecast assumes no further expansion of the conflict.

Booking Holdings’ proposed 1.63 billion euro ($1.7 billion) purchase of Swedish peer ETraveli Group was blocked by EU antitrust authorities on Monday after the company failed to allay concerns about its dominance in online hotel reservations.

The European Commission has all but officially blocked Booking Holding’s almost 2-year-old pending acquisition of Swedish flight-tech company eTraveli Group, and Booking confidentially sent a memo to national competition authorities detailing why it thinks the commission’s arguments are flawed.

The European Commission is set to block Booking Holdings’ $1.8 billion deal to acquire Sweden’s eTraveli Group, a critically important transaction that’s been in limbo for nearly two years.

Online travel agency Booking Holdings Inc is expected to receive an EU antitrust warning about its 1.63 billion euro bid for Sweden-based Etraveli Group, three people familiar with the matter said.

The European Union’s antitrust regulators on Friday warned that Booking Holdings’ planned acquisition of Sweden-based rival ETraveli may strengthen the U.S. company’s position in the market for hotel online travel agencies, and push up costs for hotels.

Booking Holdings has proposed a remedy to a hotel issue that is threatening European Commission approval of its roughly $1.8 billion deal to acquire flight tech company eTraveli Group — show hotels from competitors when someone books a flight.