:
US: Multinational ride-hailing service firm Uber has been linked with a potential acquisition of US travel booking website Expedia by British newspaper the Financial Times.
According to sources speaking to the newspaper, the Uber interest remains at an early stage and there has yet to be a formal approach to Expedia, nor are there any discussions ongoing at the moment.
Founded in 2009, Uber has expanded beyond its core ride-hailing service in recent years, allowing its app users to book anything from flights to trains, boats and food, while it has also broadened into corporate logistics and advertising.
Its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi previously served in the same role at Expedia for 12 years from 2005 to 2017 and is still a non-executive director on the travel website’s board.
Since going public via an initial public offering [IPO] in 2019 at a valuation of more than $80 billion, Uber has sought to execute a more aggressive mergers and acquisitions [M&A] strategy, including purchasing Postmates and Drizly in the food and beverage delivery space, managed transportation and logistics network, Transplace, and Chinese ride-hailing group DiDi. It has also partnered with Waymo, Google’s autonomous taxi service, and General Motors’ self-driving unit Cruise during the same period.
A prospective acquisition, however, would be Uber’s largest and most significant in its 15-year history.
It came as Uber’s chief financial officer [CFO] Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah said two months ago that the company’s “top priority” for deploying capital was investing in growth segments, including via acquisitions. An acquisition of Expedia might accelerate Uber’s ambitions to become the next global ‘super app’ to compete across a range of verticals.
In May, Ariane Gorin succeeded Peter Kern as CEO of Expedia Group, while there has also been an upheaval in other senior positions across the group’s board.
Speaking to STRz this week in response to the acquisition rumours, an Expedia Group spokesperson said: “We don’t comment on rumours and speculation.”
