InterActiveCorp (IAC) has split into two separate companies. Its travel arm IAC Travel, which includes the online booking agencies Expedia.com, Expedia Corporate Travel and Hotels.com, will now trade under the name Expedia.
IAC chairman and ceo Barry Diller said the move was “entirely an elective one…there is nothing else that pushed us, no transaction, no inherent worry that led us to take this course at this time.”
Mr Diller said that businesses in IAC Travel “have had tremendous growth to the point where they now represent over 50% of IAC's earnings and dwarf each of our other operations.
“Many of those, standing on their own, have real import and significance but are considered irrelevant in the current construct.”
Under the new structure, Mr Diller will stay as chairman and ceo of IAC and chairman and senior executive of Expedia.
Dara Khosrowshahi, who the company previously announced would become president and ceo of IAC Travel, will serve as ceo of Expedia.
The move comes as the battle among the online agencies is hotting up, especially in the realm of business travel.
Expedia Corporate Travel, Orbitz and Travelocity Business have already made great strides into the business travel market in the USA and are predicted to try and repeat this success in Europe this year.
Cendant, the US conglomerate which owns Orbitz as well as the GDS Galileo, car rental brands Avis and Budget and hotel chains Ramada and Days Inn, bought the UK online agency ebookers for £209m in December.
Expedia has also made two sorties into the European market with the purchase of the small French online agency Egencia and, more recently, the medium sized British traditional agency World Travel Management.
Mr Diller denied the spin off of Expedia into a leaner and less unwieldy unit was in response to Cendant's expansion but Mr Khosrowshahi said he expected “more competition” among online agencies.