According to the Financial Times, Uber is reportedly considering acquiring Expedia, the world’s largest travel booking company. Expedia is valued at $20 billion and is set to report record annual revenue in 2023, making it the company’s biggest acquisition if the deal goes through. But the Times says this is still in its early stages and Uber hasn’t even made a formal offer to travel companies yet. The company is still evaluating the implications of acquiring Expedia and has worked with its advisors over the past several months to consider whether and how to structure the deal.
The company’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, was not involved in acquisition negotiations, given that she was Expedia’s CEO before being hired by the ride-hailing service in 2017. You may end up not participating. He remains a member of the Board of Directors. However, it appears that Khosrowshahi was not the one who suggested the potential takeover, although the Times said in its report that the idea was “proposed by a third party.”
Uber has long had plans to become a broader travel booking platform. Khosrowshahi said that from the time he joined the company, he wanted Uber to become the “Amazon of transportation.” Since then, the ride-hailing service has added train, bus and flight reservations in some markets, and also made some big acquisitions. It bought online food delivery service Postmates for $2.65 billion and alcohol delivery service Drizly for $1.1 billion, then shut them down three years later. The company also partnered with Waymo and Cruise to offer self-driving in certain markets. As the Times points out, Uber could become profitable for the first time in 2023 due to a resurgence in demand for ride-hailing and food delivery, putting it in a good position to acquire a company as large as Expedia. be.
