Expedia Stock Climbs On Report Of Takeover Interest By Uber

(RTTNews) - Shares of Expedia Group Inc. gained more than 7 percent in after-hours trading on Wednesday and is currently up above 7 percent in pre-market activity on the Nasdaq after the Financial Times reported that ride-hailing major Uber Technologies Inc. has explored a possible takeover deal for the online travel company.

Meanwhile, Uber fell nearly 2.7 percent in the extended trading, and is currently down 2.6 percent.

If successful, an acquisition of Expedia with around $20 billion market cap would be Uber's largest acquisition so far as it aims to diversify its operations to boost revenues.

FT reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that Uber has approached its advisers in recent months about a potential bid for Expedia after being directed by a third party whether such a deal would be possible, though interest is in the early stages.

Meanwhile, Uber has not officially reached out to the travel website, and there are no ongoing talks between the companies.

Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi has served as Expedia's CEO from 2005 to 2017, and remains a non-executive director on its board.

Uber, which started as a ride-hailing company, has expanded its operations in recent times to food delivery, train and flight bookings, corporate logistics and advertising, to reach a current market capitalisation of $173 billion.

Since going public in 2019, Uber have bought Postmates and Drizly, and entered into freight and logistics business through the acquisition of Transplace.

The company, which owns stakes in self-driving car company Aurora and Chinese ride-hailing group DiDi, recently entered into partnerships with Google's autonomous taxi service Waymo, as well as GM's Cruise.

Khosrowshahi was quoted by reports earlier this week as saying "Anywhere you want to go in your city and anything that you want to get, we want to empower you to do so."

Expedia, the fourth-largest online travel company, in 2023 generated $12.8 billion in revenue. In its latest second quarter, profit increased to $386 million or $2.80 per share, with 6 percent rise in revenues to $3.558 billion.

In February, the travel company had disclosed in a regulatory filing that it would eliminate about 1,500 employees, as part of its organizational and technological transformation.

In pre-market activity on the Nasdaq, Expedia is trading at $161.90, up 7.33 percent, while Uber on the NYSE is trading at $79.77, down 2.6 percent.