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.
- 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.