Expedia, Inc.: A Brief History of the Online Travel Industry Pioneer
In 1996, a small division within Microsoft launched online travel booking site Expedia.com®, which gave consumers a revolutionary new way to research and book travel. Three years later, Expedia was spun out of Microsoft, becoming a publicly traded company on NASDAQ under the symbol EXPE. Meanwhile, the other brands in the current day Expedia, Inc. portfolio were independently established and began their respective courses of development.
In the first few years of the new millennium, Expedia® became - and remains - the world's leading online travel company. Following InterActiveCorp's (IAC) acquisition of a controlling interest in Expedia in 2002, Expedia grew quickly and its synergies with its parent company's other travel holdings became more and more salient as the company acquired other leading travel brands, including online travel sites Hotels.com, and Hotwire; corporate travel management company Egencia; and traveler reviews & opinions site TripAdvisor. In 2005, IAC spun out its travel businesses under the name Expedia, Inc., and since that time Expedia, Inc. has evolved into what is today the world's largest online travel company, and parent company to a global portfolio of leading consumer brands. In late 2011 Expedia, Inc. spun out TripAdvisor Media Group and retained its successful travel transaction brands. In March 2013, Expedia, Inc. completed its acquisition of a majority stake in leading hotel metasearch company trivago.
Expedia’s corporate headquarters are located in Bellevue, Washington, with offices throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions.
Expedia, Inc. employs 12,330 full time and part-time employees worldwide across its network of brands, including approximately 2,845 employees of eLong, Inc., a Chinese subsidiary
Learn more about our Executive Leadership and Board of Directors
Global Presence
The brands that comprise Expedia, Inc. operate sites localized for more than 150 travel booking sites in more than 70 countries.
Financial Highlights
2012 Gross Bookings: $34 Billion
2012 Revenue: $4 Billion
See the Expedia, Inc. Investors page for more detailed financial information