Priceline Group to Acquire Online Restaurant Reservations Leader, OpenTable for $2.6 Billion


Priceline is getting into the restaurant reservations space with the announcement it intends to acquire OpenTable. Pictured is the Zentan Restaurant in a Kimpton Hotel in Washington, D.C. / Kimpton Hotels

OpenTable just booked a whale today which resulted in an astonishing $2.6 billion transaction by the Priceline Group giving them a stronger foothold in mobile and further enhancing their digital booking experience for their customers and world-class marketing solutions for their partners. OpenTable will join Priceline’s successful group of companies including: Booking.com, Kayak, Priceline.com, Agoda and Rentalcars.com.
Looking at the numbers: 
  • OpenTable, the restaurant reservations platform attracts some 15 million restaurant reservations monthly with over 620 million diners, according to its website.
  • The Wall Street Journal reported that the Priceline Group agreed to offer OpenTable $103 per share in an all-cash deal, and that would be a 46% premium over its closing share price June 12.
  • The deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter, is larger than the Priceline Group’s 2013 acquisition of Kayak for $2.1 billion.
The Priceline Group is now positioned very well to compete against companies in the restaurant arena such as Yelp, GrubHub, and Groupon which resulted in a nice little pop in stock price after the announcement of the acquisition. 

Written by Charles Koh

Founded EatSeattle, and has continued to use his expertise as editor-in-chief to guide the website’s growth over the last five years. Koh’s experience focuses on digital marketing and social media, and has been a part of several companies, some of which he created, specializing in both areas over the course of his career. Koh was previously with Google and Zagat where he helped expand and grow communities worldwide.

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