 |
|
| Type |
Public; Subsidiary of Priceline.com |
|---|---|
| Traded as | NASDAQ: KYAK |
| Foundation date | 2004 |
| Headquarters | Norwalk, CT, USA |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Founder(s) | Steve Hafner, Paul M. English |
| Key people | Steve Hafner (Co-founder) & (CEO) Paul M. English (technologist) (Co-founder) & (CTO) Joel Cutler (Director) Michael Moritz (Director) Terry Jones (Chairman) |
| Industry | Travel, Internet |
| Revenue | $224.5 million (2011)[1] |
| Employees | 133 (2011)[1] |
| Subsidiaries | SideStep, Swoodoo, Checkfelix.com |
| Website | kayak.com sidestep.com |
| Alexa rank | 772[2] |
| Available in | English (US, UK, India), Danish, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish & Swedish |
| Launched | May 5, 2004 (Alpha) [3] October 2004 (Public Beta) [3] February 7, 2005 (2005-02-07) [3] |
Kayak.com is a travel metasearch engine operated by the Kayak Software Corporation (or KAYAK).[4] The company also provides related services and operates KAYAK.co.uk, checkfelix.com, and swoodoo.com. The company was acquired by Priceline.com on November 8, 2012.
Contents |
Company background [edit]
History [edit]
Cofounders of Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz formed KAYAK in 2004.[5]
The company was originally incorporated in Delaware in 2004 under the name Travel Search Company, Inc. The name was later changed to Kayak Software Corporation in August 2004.[6]
In December 2007, KAYAK raised $196 million in a new round of financing from a group of investors, including General Catalyst Partners, Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, and Oak Investment Partners. Using that funding, KAYAK acquired SideStep, a competing US travel website.[7]
On March 5, 2010, KAYAK sold certain assets related to the website www.travelpost.com and its travel information business to The New Travelco, Inc., a Delaware corporation, which subsequently changed its name to Travelpost, Inc.[8]
In May 2010, the swoodoo brand, a leading travel search platform in Germany, was acquired.[9]
In November 2010, KAYAK filed its S-1 with the SEC aiming to raise $50 million in an IPO on the NASDAQ stock exchange.[10]
In January 2011, KAYAK closed down SideStep and redirected SideStep traffic to KAYAK.com.[11]
In March 2011, KAYAK began providing results in the U.S. version of Bing from multiple cities, airports and airlines in Bing's travel search section.[12]
In April 2011, KAYAK acquired all of the outstanding shares of JaBo Vertrieb-und Entwicklung GmbH, or JaBo Software. JaBo Software operates checkfelix.com, a leading travel metasearch website in Austria.[13]
In July 2012 the company announced it would expand into Russia.[14]
On July 20, 2012 Kayak officially went public, trading under the name KYAK. On its first day of trading, Kayak opened up at $26/ - higher than originally expected and closed at $33.18/share.[15]
On November 8, 2012 Kayak was acquired by Priceline.com for $1.8B.[16]
Cofounders [edit]
KAYAK was founded in 2004 by Steve Hafner and Paul M. English. Hafner currently serves as KAYAK’s chief executive officer, and English, the chief technology officer. Before KAYAK, Hafner helped found Orbitz in November 1999 and led its business development, advertising sales, marketing, and product marketing activities.[17] Prior to his tenure at Orbitz, Hafner worked as a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, where he was part of the project team that led the development of Project T2, which eventually became Orbitz.[18] Hafner received a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.[18]
Prior to co-founding KAYAK, English co-founded Boston Light Software, a small business ecommerce platform that was sold to Intuit where he served as vice president of technology.[19] English is noted in the press as having a passion for customer feedback as he launched www.gethuman.com to provide consumers tips on dealing with customer service phone systems.[20] English is also a Director at Boston-based Partners-In-Health and Village Health Works, and is an advisor to JoinAfrica, FanSnap, Roost, LinkedIn, and Pixable.[21] English holds a BS and MS in computer science from University of Massachusetts.
Product [edit]
Travel price comparison [edit]
KAYAK.com compares airline, hotel, car rental, cruise, and other vacation deals from other travel sites including other fare aggregators. In August 2011, KAYAK updated its flight search to include Hacker Fares™ in the search results. Hacker Fares™ refers to itineraries that require purchasing two or more one-way tickets on separate airlines.[22]
Other services [edit]
KAYAK.com offers trip management tools to store trip plans in one place, set alerts for price changes on specific flight routes or hotels over a certain timeframe, and keep track of reward program points.
KAYAK also makes available nonpersonal data from travel searches conducted on KAYAK to reveal sample trends on the relative popularity of flight routes and hotel destinations over specific periods of time.[23]
Technology [edit]
KAYAK.com is built on a Java, Apache, Perl, and Linux platform. and uses XML-HTTP and JavaScript for its user interface.[24]
Reception [edit]
Recognition [edit]
Time named KAYAK to its list of the 50 Best Websites of 2009.[25]
At The Webby Awards, KAYAK has accepted the People’s Voice award in the travel website category in 2008, the Webby Award in the travel website category in 2009, the People’s Voice award in the mobile travel app category in 2011,[26] and three more awards in 2012: both the Webby and People's Choice awards in the travel website category and the People's Voice award in the mobile travel app category.[27]
Google’s ITA acquisition conflict [edit]
In July 2010, Google announced the acquisition of ITA Software for $700 million in cash to pursue the creation of new flight search tools, subject to Department of Justice (DOJ) approval.[28] KAYAK voiced concerns about monopoly power through FairSearch.org, a consortium that includes TripAdvisor, Travelocity, Expedia, and Microsoft, among others.[29] After an investigation on April 8, 2011 the DOJ and Google agreed on the purchase subject to certain conditions and dismissed the potential antitrust lawsuit.[30]
All-American Muslim advertising [edit]
In December 2011 KAYAK announced that it would not renew a contract to advertise on the TLC reality television show All-American Muslim. The decision followed a campaign by the Florida Family Association, a one-man fundamentalist organization "on the Christian right" that says it's "defending American values."[31][32][33][34] KAYAK chief marketing officer Robert Birge wrote that TLC "was not upfront with us about the nature of the show" which "sucked"[35] in an explanation posted to the KAYAK website entitled "We Handled This Poorly."[36]
References [edit]
- ^ a b http://www.techcrunch.com/2012/03/09/eyeing-an-ipo-kayak-2011-revenue-up-32-percent-to-225m-net-income-up-21-percent/
- ^ "KAYAK.com - Traffic Details". Alexa. Retrieved 2011-07-22.
- ^ a b c "Corporate Backgrounder". KAYAK.com. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
- ^ "Kayak.com: Private Company Overview". Business Week. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
- ^ "KAYAK CrunchBase Profile". CrunchBase. October 23, 2011. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
- ^ "Kayak.com Company Overview". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
- ^ Arrington, Michael (December 20, 2007). "Breaking: Kayak Raises $196 Million, Buys Rival SideStep". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
- ^ Schaal, Dennis (February 11, 2011). "Kayak has stake in TravelPost rollout". Tnooz. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ Zinnagl, Lukas (May 6, 2010). "Kayak swoops on German travel search engine Swoodoo [Updated]". Techcrunch. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ Ostrow, Adam (November 17, 2010). "Travel Search Engine Kayak Files for IPO". Mashable. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ Womack, Brian (May 27, 2011). "Kayak Software Quarterly Sales Rise on Online Travel Demand". Bloomberg. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ Duryee, Tricia (March 4, 2011). "Bing Picks Kayak for Travel Search Partnership". All Things D. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ Taylor, Colleen (May 27, 2011). "Poised for IPO, Kayak Reports Sales Boost and Global Growth". Gigaom. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/20/kayak-is-headed-to-russia/
- ^ Emerson, Rip. July 20, 2012. "That’ll Fly: Kayak Closes IPO Day With Shares Up Nearly 30% And Market Cap Over $1.2B." http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/20/kayak-ipo-first-day/
- ^ The Next Web, November 8, 2012. "Priceline.com acquiring travel company KAYAK for $1.8B in a deal that includes $500M in cash" http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/11/08/priceline-com-acquiring-travel-company-kayak-for-1-8b-in-cash-and-stocks/?utm_source=Twitter&awesm=tnw.to_isx7&utm_campaign=social%20media&utm_medium=Spreadus
- ^ "Steve Hafner General Catalyst Entrepreneur Page". General Catalyst. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
- ^ a b "Steve Hafner". The PhocusWright Conference. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
- ^ Welch, Liz (February 1, 2010). "The Way I Work: Paul English of Kayak". Inc. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
- ^ Leider, Polly (February 11, 2009). "Don't Be A Phone Hostage". CBS News. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
- ^ "Paul English General Catalyst Entrepreneur Page". General Catalyst. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
- ^ "A New Way To Find Deals On Flights - Hacker Fares™".
- ^ "KAYAK Trends".
- ^ "KAYAK.com - Technology".
- ^ Fisher, Adam (August 24, 2009). "50 Best Websites 2009". Time. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
- ^ "KAYAK Webby Awards 2011". The Webby Awards. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
- ^ "KAYAK Webby Awards 2012". The Webby Awards. Retrieved June 1, 2012.
- ^ "Google and ITA Software Sign Acquisition Agreement". Google Investor Relations. July 1, 2010. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ "FairSearch.org Website". Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ "Google ITA Antitrust Case Filing". Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ The 2010 federal tax forms for the Florida Family Association list Mr. Caton as its only paid employee, earning $55,200. Source:Freedman, Samuel G. (December 16, 2011). "Waging a One-Man War on American Muslims". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
- ^ Freedman, Samuel G. (December 16, 2011). "Waging a One-Man War on American Muslims". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
- ^ Stenovec, Timothy (July 10, 2012). "Florida Family Association Launches Campaign Against Marvel Comics Over Same-Sex Marriage In 'Astonishing X-Men'". Huffington Post. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
- ^ Diaz, Johnny (December 14, 2011). "Kayak won’t renew ads on Muslim TV show". The Boston Globe.
- ^ Elliott, Stuart (December 14, 2011). "Kayak Defends Cutting Ties to ‘All-American Muslim’". Media Decoder.
- ^ Birge, Robert. "We Handled This Poorly". Kayak.com. Archived from the original on December 15, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
External links [edit]
- Official website
- America Online aims to be in vanguard of Internet travel
- Online shopping sites fight customer bailouts, International Herald Tribune
- Struggling upstream, Forbes.com
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