Expedia Profit Rises

Expedia Inc. on Thursday reported higher third-quarter profit as revenue rose 13%, driven by an increase in hotel and flight purchases.

It was the first reporting period following the September acquisition of Orbitz Worldwide Inc. for $1.3 billion. Expedia said the deal had an enterprise value of $1.6 billion.

Overall, profit for the quarter ended Sept. 30 rose 10% to $283.2 million, or $2.12 a share. Excluding stock-based compensation and other items, per-share profit jumped to $2.07 from $1,83 a year earlier.

Revenue grew to $1.94 billion from $1.71 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected a profit of $2.02 a share on $1.96 billion in revenue.

Shares climbed 7.4% to $136.50 in after-hours trading.

In the latest quarter, Expedia reported that gross bookings rose 21%, driven by hotel room nights and air tickets. Domestic bookings, which account for about 62% of total bookings, jumped 22% from the year earlier, while international bookings improved 19%.

Those figures exclude results from eLong Inc., in which the company sold its stake in May.

Expedia, launched in 1996 by a small division within Microsoft Corp., went public in 1999 and has since expanded into a travel giant with a market capitalization of about $16 billion. Among the brands in its portfolio are: Travelocity, Hotwire, Hotels.com and Trivago.

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 29, 2015 19:55 ET (23:55 GMT)

Elong ADS Representing 2 Ordinary Shares (MM) (NASDAQ:LONG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Oct 2024 to Nov 2024