MIAMI BEACH -- Most PhoCusWright delegates indicated that it might
be another couple of years before the financial markets start to
penalize electronic commerce companies for their lack of
profitability.
Priceline.com, Expedia .com, Travelocity.com, Preview Travel and
GetThere.com are Web entities operating in the red.
In a poll, 18% of the delegates said the financial markets would
lose patience next year and 44% said in 2001, while 23% said it
won't happen until 2002 and the remaining 15% voted for 2003.
Jay Walker, founder and vice chairman of Priceline, said his
company told the market to expect steadily narrowing losses from
Priceline and "that is what we have."
Walker said some analysts predict Priceline will be profitable
in 2001, and "we're pretty comfortable" with that.
Michael Thomas, president and chief executive officer of
1travel.com, later gave a reminder that while most of the attention
goes to a handful of Web travel services, companies like his
shouldn't be underestimated.
"We like to think of ourselves as the underdog. We're a
profitable company. We're growing just as fast as the ones who are
losing money," Thomas said.