Type of business Subsidiary Website www.kayak.com Founded 14 January 2004 CEO Steve Hafner (Jan 2004–) | Area served Worldwide Alexa rank 973 (February 2017) Revenue 292.7 million USD (2012) Parent organization The Priceline Group | |
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Key people Steve Hafner (CEO)
Giorgos Zacharia (CTO) Industry Travel
Technology
Travel search engine Headquarters Stamford, Connecticut, United States Founders Steve Hafner, Paul English Subsidiaries checkfelix, swoodoo, Swoodoo Ag Profiles | ||
How to find cheap flights using kayak com part 1 of 3 in finding cheap flights series
Kayak.com, (stylized as KAYAK), is a travel fare aggregator website and travel metasearch engine. The website is owned by a subsidiary of The Priceline Group.
Contents
- How to find cheap flights using kayak com part 1 of 3 in finding cheap flights series
- Foundation
- Growth in the United States
- International expansion
- IPO and acquisition by The Priceline Group
- Office move
- Awards
- All American Muslim advertising 2011
- References
The website and mobile app is available in 20 languages and includes 40 international sites. It processes 1.5 billion fare searches per year.
The company also runs travel search engines Checkfelix and Swoodoo.
Foundation
After Steve Hafner helped found Orbitz in November 1999 and led its business development, advertising sales, marketing, and product marketing activities, Hafner and Paul M. English founded Travel Search Company, Inc. in Delaware in 2004 The name was later changed to Kayak Software Corporation in August 2004, and KAYAK Software Corporation in 2011.
Growth in the United States
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. SideStep traffic was redirected to kayak.com in January 2011.
On March 5, 2010, Kayak sold certain assets related to the website travelpost.com and its travel information business to The New Travelco, Inc., a Delaware corporation, which subsequently changed its name to Travelpost, Inc.
In March 2011, Kayak began providing results in the US version of Bing from multiple cities, airports and airlines in Bing's travel search section.
International expansion
In May 2010, Kayak acquired Swoodoo, a leading travel search platform in Germany.
In April 2011, Kayak acquired all of the outstanding shares of JaBo Vertrieb-und Entwicklung GmbH, or JaBo Software. JaBo Software operates checkfelix, a leading travel metasearch website in Austria.
On February 7, 2017, it was announced that The Priceline Group is acquiring the Momondo Group and that Kayak will assume leadership of the Momondo and Cheapflights entities.
IPO and acquisition by The Priceline Group
In November 2010, Kayak filed its S-1 with the SEC, aiming to raise $50 million in an initial public offering on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
On July 20, 2012, Kayak went public. On its first day of trading, Kayak shares opened at $26.00 per share, which was higher than expected, and closed at $33.18 per share.
On November 8, 2012, it was announced that Kayak was being acquired by The Priceline Group, then known as Priceline.com, for $1.8 billion, or $40 per Kayak share. The acquisition closed on May 21, 2013.
In December 2016, Kayak successfully defended itself against a patent infringement lawsuit and was awarded $580,000 in legal fees.
Office move
On September 25, 2013, it was announced that the state of Connecticut would assist Kayak with a $2.5 million loan to help facilitate their move to the Harbor Point district of Stamford.
Awards
In 2013, Travel + Leisure named Kayak's app in its list of the "Best Apps for Business Travelers" as well as its list for the "Best Apps and Websites for Travelers".
Time named Kayak to its list of the "50 Best Websites of 2009".
Mashable included Kayak in first place for the website’s list, "10 Budget Airfare Tools Every Traveler Should Know in 2012".
At The Webby Awards, Kayak received 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, 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. In 2013, Kayak received a Webby Award for the Best Travel Mobile & App for Handheld Devices. In 2014, Kayak won both the People's Voice and Webby Award in the Travel category for Tablets. In 2015, Kayak Mobile won again the People's Voice in the Travel category of the Webbys.
The World Travel Awards presented Kayak with the World's Leading Flight Comparison Website award in 2013 and the World's Leading Travel Search Website award in 2011.
Fortune named Kayak one of the 100 Best Workplaces for Women and one of the 100 Best Medium Workplaces in 2016.
The Boston Globe named Kayak #2 on their list of Top Places to Work among Medium-size Employers in 2016.
All-American Muslim advertising (2011)
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 focused on "defending American values". Kayak chief marketing officer Robert Birge wrote that TLC "was not upfront with us about the nature of the show" in an explanation posted to the Kayak website.