Darren Huston Interview on Acquiring Homeaway with Skift

Priceline Group CEO says his company didn’t get involved when HomeAway put itself up for sale because “we’re quite picky” and HomeAway’s model of allowing vacation rental owners to wait 24 hours before confirming a booking and charging travelers a booking fee “just didn’t fit us.”

Expedia Inc. announced that it would acquire HomeAway for $3.9 billion in cash and stock. Asked whether the Priceline Group got involved in that sales process, Darren Huston said: “No. Although we’ve talked to them for years. We were very much aware of it. We knew kind of how it was going. We did a little bit of thinking and said this isn’t the right thing for us. We’re quite picky.”

Priceline buying OpenTable | Darren Huston on Business Financial Post

The OpenTable deal is the first big move for Priceline Chief Executive Officer Darren Huston, who took over in January with a challenging task: continue to fuel growth after his predecessor Jeffery Boyd, who stayed as chairman, generated a 100-fold stock surge in 11 years.

Priceline Group Inc. stepped up its acquisition spree by buying OpenTable Inc. in a deal valued at $2.6 billion, adding restaurant bookings to an online travel business already spanning flights, hotels and cars.

The all-cash offer of $103 per share for the popular Internet restaurant reservation company is 46 percent higher than OpenTable’s closing price yesterday. The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter, the companies said in a statement today.

Also Read : Darren Huston : Priceline is in Competition

Priceline is buying a company that seats over 15 million diners per month across more than 31,000 restaurants via online bookings. As consumers increasingly use services like OpenTable on mobile devices, the deal boosts Priceline’s presence on smartphones and further connects the company to local businesses.

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