 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| |
| Industry | |
| Founded | 1996; 29 years ago (1996)[1] |
| Founder | Jay S. Walker |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people |
|
| Products |
|
| Revenue |  US$23.74 billion (2024) |
| US$7.555 billion (2024) | |
| US$5.882 billion (2024) | |
| Total assets | US$27.71 billion (2024) |
| Total equity |  US$−4.02 billion (2024) |
Number of employees | c. 24,300 (2024) |
| Website | bookingholdings |
| Footnotes / references [2] | |
Booking Holdings Inc. is an American travel technology company incorporated underDelaware General Corporation Law and located on 800 Connecticut Avenue inNorwalk, Connecticut, that owns and operates several travel fare aggregators and travel faremetasearch engines including namesake and flagshipBooking.com,Priceline.com,Agoda,Kayak,Cheapflights, Rentalcars.com,Momondo, andOpenTable. It operates websites in about 40 languages and 200 countries.
The company is ranked 243rd on theFortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue.[3] The company primarily derives its revenue fromcommissions, with a small portion derived fromadvertising.[4] In 2023, consumers booked 1,049 million room nights of accommodation, 74 million rental car days, and 36 million airplane tickets using websites owned by Booking Holdings.[4]: 43
In 1996,Jay S. Walker founded the company inStamford, Connecticut, which launchedPriceline.com, an online travel site, that used aName Your Own Price bidding model.[5]
In 1999, the company became apublic company via aninitial public offering, making Walker, who owned a 35% stake in the company, a multi-billionaire.[6][5] The company's launch on theNASDAQ National Market was on March 30; it first traded under the ticker symbol "PCLN".
The company experimented with selling other products and services such as groceries, gasoline, home mortgages, and cars, but these offerings were discontinued in 2000.[7][8]
In July 2005, the company acquiredBooking.com for $133 million.[9] and was merged with ActiveHotels.com, a European online hotel reservation company, purchased by Priceline Group for $161 million in September 2004.
In October 2009, the company became a component of theNasdaq-100 index.[10]
In April 2014, the name of the company was changed from priceline.com Incorporated to The Priceline Group Inc.[4]
In August 2017, Kayak acquired the assets of Mundi, a Brazilian metasearch company.[11][12]
In February 2018, the company changed its name to Booking Holdings,[13][14] and its ticker symbol was changed to "BKNG".
The company offered to acquireGoToGate; however, the deal was blocked by European regulators.[15]
Jeffery H. Boyd was named chief executive officer in 2002 and remained in that role until becoming chairman in 2013.[16]
Effective January 2014,Darren Huston was named chief executive officer of the company, replacing Jeff Boyd.[17] In April 2016, Huston was forced to resign following an undisclosed personal relationship with an employee, and Boyd was named interim CEO.[18]
Effective January 2017, Glenn D. Fogel was named chief executive officer and president.[19]
The key trends for Booking Holdings are (as at the financial year ending December 31):[20]
| Revenue (US$ bn) | Net profit (US$ bn) | Total assets (US$ bn) | Employees | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 10.7 | 2.1 | 19.8 | 18.500 |
| 2017 | 12.6 | 2.3 | 25.4 | 22.900 |
| 2018 | 14.5 | 3.9 | 22.6 | 24.500 |
| 2019 | 15.0 | 4.8 | 21.4 | 26.400 |
| 2020 | 6.7 | 0.06 | 21.8 | 20.300 |
| 2021 | 10.9 | 1.1 | 23.6 | 20.300 |
| 2022 | 17.0 | 3.0 | 25.3 | 21.600 |
| 2023 | 21.3 | 4.2 | 24.3 | 23.600 |
| 2024 | 23.7 | 5.8 | 27.7 | 24.300 |
| # | Year | Company | Price | Ref(s). |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Priceline.com | [21] | ||
| 1 | 2004 | Major stakes in Travelweb and Active Hotels | [22] | |
| 2 | 2005 | Booking.com | $133 million | [21] |
| 3 | 2007 | Agoda.com | [23] | |
| 4 | 2010 | TravelJigsaw /Rentalcars.com | [24] | |
| 5 | 2013 | Kayak.com | $1.8 billion | [25] |
| 6 | 2014 | OpenTable | $2.6 billion | [26] |
| 7 | 2014 | Buuteeq and Hotel Ninjas | $98 million | [27] |
| 8 | 2015 | Rocketmiles | [28] | |
| 9 | 2017 | Momondo andCheapflights | $550 million | [29] |
| 10 | 2017 | Mundi | [30] | |
| 11 | 2018 | FareHarbor | $250 million | [31] |
| 12 | 2018 | Minority stake inDiDi | $500 million | [32] |
| 13 | 2018 | HotelsCombined | $140 million | [33] |
| 14 | 2019 | Venga | [34] | |
| 15 | 2022 | Getaroom | $1.2 billion | [35] |
