Expedia Group

Expedia is an online travel agency that provides hotel reservations, airline tickets, and vacation packages. It enables users to access a wide range of services. It books airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruises, vacation packages, and various attractions and services via the world wide web and telephone travel agents. 

Its primary web businesses include Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, and Egencia.com. It launched Tripadvisor in 2011. It also offers services for corporate travel and travel services in Europe and Asia. Expedia also operates internationally with sites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Japan, and China. It is done through its investment in eLong.

1996: Microsoft ran its first mainstream ad for Expedia in November.

1997: By March, Expedia reported that it had booked $1 million worth of travel reservations in a seven-day period, with about 80 percent due to airline bookings. In May, Expedia upgraded its website and added several new features, including airline seat selection, real-time flight information, and an expanded directory of hotels and bed-and-breakfast inns.

1998: Toward the end of the year Microsoft expanded Expedia's reach by launching an Expedia travel service in the United Kingdom.

1999: In September, Microsoft announced that it would sell a minority interest in Expedia to the public through an initial public offering (IPO). It was the first time Microsoft spun off one of its businesses. Expedia's IPO took place the week of November 8, with shares opening at $38. Following its IPO in November, Expedia experienced more traffic at its site than Travelocity during the holiday season, according to Media Metrix. For the fiscal, Expedia reported revenue of $38.7 million and a net loss of $19.6 million, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

2000: In February Expedia made two significant acquisitions that enabled it to offer a wider range of accommodations. The fiscal was also the first year that Expedia shifted its business model from one primarily selling airline tickets to one that included more profitable lodging and package transactions.

2001: In March, Expedia faced a different challenge when Northwest Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines stopped paying commissions on ticket sales to Internet-based travel agents. At the end of the year, Expedia changed its fiscal year to match the calendar year and reported six-month revenue of $161.2 million and a net income of $2.1 million. Through an alliance with online retailer Amazom.com, the two companies opened a travel store on the Amazon.com site. It also entered into a joint venture in France with railway operator SNCF, which resulted in a co-branded site being launched.

2002: Previously, the company had predicted that it would not become profitable until mid-year. In the end, Expedia added a $5 service charge for all airline tickets not sold as part of a packaged trip.

2003: In March, Expedia's board of directors accepted a $3.3 billion buyout offer from USA Interactive to purchase the remaining 46 percent of Expedia's shares that USA Interactive did not already own. IAC, Interactive Corp., a leading Internet and media company led by Barry Diller, invest in the travel space.

2005: Expedia Inc began trading regularly as an independent publicly traded company on the Nasdaq National Market on August 9, under the symbol “EXPE”

2012: The company continues to grow in Europe with Via Egencia and spins off Tripadvisor to the public market.

2017: $10.6 billion worldwide revenue.

We believe travel can bring good into the world, and so our mission is to power global travel for everyone, everywhere.

Expedia Group powers travel for everyone, everywhere through our global platform. Driven by the core belief that travel is a force for good, we help people experience the world in new ways and build lasting connections. We provide industry-leading technology solutions to fuel partner growth and success while facilitating memorable experiences for travellers.