 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Travel services |
| Founded | June 2001; 24 years ago (2001-06)[1] |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | Ariane Gorin (CEOExpedia Group) |
| Revenue | $932 million (2014)[1] |
Number of employees | 1,530 (2014)[1] |
| Parent | Expedia Group |
| Website | orbitz |
Orbitz.com is an international travel fare aggregator website and travelmetasearch engine. The website is owned by Orbitz Worldwide, Inc., a subsidiary ofExpedia Group. It is headquartered in theCitigroup Center, Chicago, Illinois.[2]
The company was incorporated in 2000 and beganbeta testing in February next year. Orbitz.com officially launched in June 2001.[3][1]
Before, during, and two years after launching the site, the company faced antitrust criticism since its creators controlled 75% of U.S. air travel. TheUnited States Department of Transportation saw no antitrust issues with the launch of the Orbitz website. TheUnited States Department of Justice ruled in 2003 that Orbitz was not acartel and that there was no evidence of price fixing.[4]
Nielsen's Net rating division that the launch of the Orbitz website in June 2001 was the biggest e-commerce launch ever to that date.[5]
In November 2003, Orbitz filed paperwork to sell shares at between $22 and $24 each in aninitial public offering.[6] The company went public on December 18, 2003 at a price per share of $26. After the IPO, the airlines held 70% of the outstanding stock and over 90% of the voting power.[7]
On September 29, 2004, Orbitz was acquired for $1.25 billion byNew York City-basedCendant Corporation. Cendant paid $27.50 per share.[8]
In 2006,The Blackstone Group acquiredTravelport, the travel distribution services business of Cendant, for $4.3 billion in cash. At the time, Travelport included the Orbitz travel reservation website used by consumers, the Galileo computer reservations system used by airlines and thousands of travel agents, Gulliver's Travels and Associates wholesale travel business, and other travel related software brands and solutions.[buzzword][9]
Travelport announced in May 2007 that it had filed a registration statement with theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to sell a portion of Orbitz Worldwide in aninitial public offering (IPO). Travelport said it planned to use a portion of the proceeds to pay down its debt. Trading began on July 20, 2007, and the IPO transaction closed on July 25, 2007. Travelport owned approximately 48 percent of Orbitz Worldwide following the IPO.[10]
In February 2015, Expedia announced that it would acquire Orbitz for $1.6 billion in cash, to better compete withPriceline.com. The deal was announced a few days after Expedia agreed to purchaseTravelocity.[11][12]
Orbitz ran on a mixedRed Hat Linux[13] andSolaris based platform and was an early adopter ofSun Microsystems'Jini[14] platform in aclusteredJava environment.JBoss is used as application servers within their environment, along with various otherproprietary andopen source software.[15] Orbitz licensesITA Software'sLisp-powered QPX software to power their site. Orbitz Worldwide brands have been migrated to a common technology platform, which enables the same platform to service multiple travel brands in multiple languages in different markets and currencies as well. Orbitz has released parts of itsComplex event processing infrastructure as Open Source.[16]
Southwest Airlines filed a lawsuit against Orbitz fortrademark infringement andfalse advertising in May 2001. Southwest, which had opposed the project from the outset,[clarification needed] claimed Orbitz misrepresented its prices and used its trademarks without permission. In July, it withdrew its fares fromAirline Tariff Publishing Company, the entity that distributes fare information to Orbitz and others, and dropped its case against Orbitz. Southwest went on to remove themselves from every other online outlet except their own. In June 2008, Orbitz For Business became one of the first Online Travel Agents to offer Southwest flights on the Orbitz For Business website.[17]
In July 2009,CNET revealed that Orbitz, along with other popular consumer websitesBuy.com andFandango, have been routinely giving post-transaction marketers access to their customers' credit cards. TheSenate Commerce Committee investigating these companies has described their services as a "scam".[18] Thescam works by charging a monthly fee (many users report a $12 charge from Reservation Rewards orWebloyalty showing up on their credit card statements) that is piggybacked[clarification needed] with the Orbitz sale (as it stands, OrbitzTerms of Service agreement currently allows them to share customers' credit card information with third parties for their own uses).
In 2009, the state ofNew Jersey filed a lawsuit against the company alleging violation of their Consumer Fraud Act surrounding events with aBruce Springsteen concert, where tickets were allegedly offered for sale on their website which did not actually exist. The court inMilgram v. Orbitz granted summary judgment for Orbitz, finding thatSection 230 of theCommunications Decency Act preempted the state law consumer fraud claims.[19]
In December 2010, American Airlines temporarily ceased offering fares through Orbitz following pressure from American to convince Orbitz to use its AA Direct Connect electronic transaction system.[20] AA tried to establish that Direct Connect would have full control over the distribution of its products and reduce GDS segment fees. Furthermore, Direct Connect enables AA to sellancillary services to its customers.[21] American was later ordered by an Illinois Court to resume offering fares and flight schedules.[22] The court order came only days after American released a video jabbing Orbitz on YouTube.[23]
Media Matters runs a website called DropFox.com, aiming to get advertisers to boycottFox News. Orbitz initially referred to Media Matters' efforts as a "smear campaign".[24]
In 2014, Orbitz andUnited Airlines initiated a federal lawsuit against 22-year-oldSkiplagged founder Aktarer Zaman.[25][26][27] The complaint alleges that Zaman "intentionally and maliciously" interfered with airline industry business relationships "by promoting prohibited forms of travel" which violate the common carrier contract with passengers.[28] The complaint is centered on airline policies againsthidden city tickets. Although the hidden-city practice itself is not illegal,[29] the complaint alleged that Zaman's website is disruptive to their business. The lawsuit was dismissed.[30][31]
