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Priceline now worth $100B

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Re: Priceline now worth $100B

#31

Post by tehwebguy »

wheaties wrote: post #16

This is stupid. Really. Here we are in a world where the companies that own the assets (you know, the things that cost a lot of money) are worth less than the things that don't own anything. This doesn't seem "right" or "fair" in the sense that Priceline should be a middleman, unable to exercise any or all pricing power because it does not control the assets producing the revenue. I wonder how long this can last?

From a different perspective Priceline is an outsourced, commission-only marketing & sales team that every airline, hotel and rental car company may participate in freely.

Re: Priceline now worth $100B

#33

Post by tschellenbach »

wheaties wrote: post #16

This is stupid. Really. Here we are in a world where the companies that own the assets (you know, the things that cost a lot of money) are worth less than the things that don't own anything. This doesn't seem "right" or "fair" in the sense that Priceline should be a middleman, unable to exercise any or all pricing power because it does not control the assets producing the revenue. I wonder how long this can last?

It seems as though they have a very sustainable advantage. Getting all the hotels connected is expensive. Because they have such a large number of hotels in place with a good revenue share they probably have some of the highest conversion rates in the industry. The higher conversion rate and deep pockets allow them to buy demand and brand awareness. Very hard to see how someone would enter this market and try to compete with them. I imagine they also have exclusive deals in place with some hotels making it even harder.

It's not impossible though:

1. One of the other big tech players could decide to enter this market. 2. Alternatively a site with huge demand could start to feature hotels (airbnb for instance). 3. A technology shift or a shift in the right advertising strategies to create demand could leave room for startups to enter this market.

Re: Priceline now worth $100B

#34

Post by Danihan »

hatred wrote: post #19

I am amazed. In fact, I still remember when someone told me in 2011'ish that they are worth ~30b$; I had the same reaction. Does anyone know how they justify their valuation? Is it mostly by acquiring other smaller companies (Kayak etc.) and who are the other big competitors to Priceline?

Shit, I didn't know they bought Kayak.

Re: Priceline now worth $100B

#35

Post by [deleted] »

Kurtz79 wrote: post #8

Interesting, it seems like a company that had a very inflated valuation due to the dot-com bubble, was hit very hard when the bubble burst and it took almost 15 years for the stock price to get back to pre-bubble level...

[deleted]

Re: Priceline now worth $100B

#36

Post by Danihan »

Kurtz79 wrote: post #8

Interesting, it seems like a company that had a very inflated valuation due to the dot-com bubble, was hit very hard when the bubble burst and it took almost 15 years for the stock price to get back to pre-bubble level...

They were one of the only survivors of the dot com bubble though. Were they really valued at $70B+ back then?

Re: Priceline now worth $100B

#38

Post by tschellenbach »

tschellenbach wrote: post #33
wheaties wrote: post #16

This is stupid. Really. Here we are in a world where the companies that own the assets (you know, the things that cost a lot of money) are worth less than the things that don't own anything. This doesn't seem "right" or "fair" in the sense that Priceline should be a middleman, unable to exercise any or all pricing power because it does not control the assets producing the revenue. I wonder how long this can last?

It seems as though they have a very sustainable advantage. Getting all the hotels connected is expensive. Because they have such a large number of hotels in place with a good revenue share they probably have some of the highest conversion rates in the industry. The higher conversion rate and deep pockets allow them to buy demand and brand awareness. Very hard to see how someone would enter this market and try to comp…

Also, the total hotel revenue is roughly $500 billion a year. https://www.statista.com/statistics/247264/total-revenue-of-... (revenue not market cap)

So there's a big difference still.

Re: Priceline now worth $100B

#39

Post by vertex-four »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #11
jdross wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Booking.com is part of Priceline group

UK here, heard of it, never heard anyone mention it nor seen anything of it in traditional media however. Presumably they're a USA only company?

They do exist in the UK, they're a competitor to LateRooms. They regularly have adverts on the TV. They never seem to have cheaper inventory than LateRooms though.
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