NORWALK, Conn. & SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 1, 2002--Priceline.com(R) (Nasdaq:PCLN) (www.priceline.com), the Name Your Own Price(sm) Internet service, and eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY) (www.ebay.com), the world's online marketplace, today announced an agreement to create a new travel booking service for eBay Travel. The service, powered by priceline.com, will serve as the cornerstone of eBay's travel business, which will include airline, hotel, car, cruises, timeshares and vacation packages. Combined with current listings available on eBay, the robust service provided by priceline.com is expected to offer great value and selection, making eBay Travel a premiere destination for people booking travel reservations.
We are in the process of building out all of our high-potential businesses, said Meg Whitman, president and CEO of eBay. eBay Travel is growing quickly and holds tremendous promise. We couldn't ask for a better partner than priceline.com to help us provide the best travel product inventory to our community.
According to eBay, recent research shows that 42 percent of eBay users purchased online travel in the last year, representing $8.4 billion in gross merchandise sales.
The new travel booking service will provide eBay users the ability to book flights, hotel and car reservations in an auction style or Buy it Now format. Priceline.com will be responsible for the technology, development, transaction processing infrastructure, and ongoing support of the booking service. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
We're excited by this opportunity to team up two of the Internet's most-recognized brands in the development of a unique new product, said Richard S. Braddock, priceline.com chairman and CEO. Priceline.com is uniquely positioned to provide a distinctive and compelling travel offering for eBay users that will fit nicely with eBay's existing business and brand.
The key to growing the travel business on eBay lies in providing the best possible depth and breadth of products, said Doug Galen, vice president, real estate, travel and new businesses for eBay. Combining priceline.com's travel booking engine with the great products of eBay sellers will create one of the most unique travel category offerings on the Internet and make eBay Travel the premiere destination for online travel.
About eBay
eBay is The World's Online Marketplace(TM). Founded in 1995, eBay created a powerful platform for the sale of goods and services by a passionate community of individuals and businesses. On any given day, there are millions of items across thousands of categories for sale on eBay, as well as on Half.com, eBay's site dedicated to fixed price trading. eBay enables trade on a local, national and international basis, with customized sites in markets around the world.
About Priceline.com
Priceline.com is the Name Your Own Price(sm) Internet service that offers products for sale in four categories: a travel service that offers leisure airline tickets, hotel rooms and rental cars; a personal finance service that offers home mortgages, refinancing and home equity loans through an independent licensee; an automotive service that offers new cars; and a telecommunications service that offers long distance calling services. Priceline.com licenses its business model to independent licensees, including pricelinemortgage and certain international licensees. In these arrangements, priceline.com generally receives royalties for licensing its intellectual property. Priceline.com also holds securities carrying the right to purchase a significant equity stake in the licensees under certain conditions. Unless those rights are exercised, the results of licensee operations will not be included in priceline.com's financial statements.
