Travel booking site Priceline seems to be hungry, and it it seems it’s found exactly what it wants to nosh on — restaurant reservation site OpenTable, which books tables for users in their cities. Priceline is forking over $2.6 billion in cold, hard cash to buy the company.
Priceline will pay $103 a share for OpenTable’s shares, reports the New York Times, in what Priceline is probably betting will turn into a chance for it to grow beyond its usual fare of flights and hotels.
By adding OpenTable to its roster, Priceline can cover more of a customer’s needs when they travel: You’ve got the flight covered, the rental car booked and the hotel — so what do travelers do when they’re arrived at their destination? They go somewhere to eat, and that’s where OpenTable comes in.
Priceline says it’s been eying this little gem of a site, which claims it seats more than 15 million diners every month at 31,000 restaurants.
“For us it’s a really natural extension,” said its chief executive, Darren Huston. “A lot of what we do day to day is very similar.”
OpenTable is pretty pumped about that $2.6 billion deal as well, it sounds like.
“We couldn’t be more excited to join a group of brands leading in their space, and we look forward to the next chapter of our own journey as we continue to enhance the dining experience for our customers worldwide,” added OpenTable’s top executive, Matt Roberts.
The deal is expected to close by the end of September, at which point the OpenTable team will stay in its San Francisco headquarters to continue running the business.
Priceline to Buy OpenTable for $2.6 Billion [The New York Times]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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