Priceline has acquired OpenTable.com
iClarified.com reported that Priceline has acquired OpenTable.com for $103 a share or $2.6 billion.
From the article:
Priceline has announced that they’ve entered into a definitive agreement whereby The Priceline Group will acquire OpenTable for $103 per share in an all cash transaction valued at $2.6 billion.
Notably, OpenTable has been integrated into iOS by Apple, letting users make reservations via Siri. For instance, users can ask Siri to “Find a table for two at the local pizza place.” If the restaurant supports it, Siri will use Opentable too reserve the table.
“OpenTable is a great match for The Priceline Group. They provide us with a natural extension into restaurant marketing services and a wonderful and highly-valued booking experience for our global customers,” said Darren Huston, President & CEO of The Priceline Group. “We look forward to helping the OpenTable team accelerate their global expansion, increase the value offered to their restaurant partners, and enhance the end-to-end experience for our collective customers across desktop and mobile devices.”
Read the full story here
Finally, a story that’s important among all the garbage gTLD ‘news’. Why is this important? Because OpenTable, combined with iOS and Siri, will continue to make changes in how people search. The San Jose Mercury News reported yesterday that due to this, Google’s share of mobile search advertising dollars in the US will fall from 83 percent in 2012 to about 67 percent this year. That’s a significant 1-year drop.
Anyone who wasn’t blind for the past few years could see that Mobile would be the big game changer when it comes to the Internet and how people find information. And yet, what’s the big ongoing news that’s continuously reported here on TheDomains? The f*cktastic gTLDs. There’s a bigger picture here that is going to have a much bigger impact on the Internet than the unnecessary, money-grabbing gTLDs could ever dream of having.
In any event, nothing lasts forever, (recollections of how Microsoft once dwarfed Apple come to mind), and it will be interesting to see how Google responds to this threat to its livelihood.
Glad you liked the article, I have written about mobile for a few years and most of the time domainers have no interest. I have believed for a long time there should be an interest on mobile, even from a parking standpoint it matters, you get paid less for the same click.