KAYAK.com’s long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) raised some US$91 million for the online travel metasearch company last week, according to a report by Agence France-Presse.
Started in 2004 by the cofounders of Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz, Kayak first revealed its intention to go public in 2010, but delayed the IPO due to worries over Google’s purchase of ITA Software, a travel industry software company specialising in airfare search and pricing systems (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 1, 2011).
According to its prospectus, Kayak said one of the risks to its outlook was Google’s new flight search tool, which would enable consumers to find comparable flight information on the Internet without using its services.
