BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Expedia edged out Travelocity as the "biggest" name in online
travel in its fiscal second quarter ended Dec. 31 with $704 million
in gross bookings.
Travelocity notched $630.2 million in gross bookings for the
period.
But, if you tally both companies' most recent four quarters, the
Sabre-controlled Travelocity still was the leader in gross
bookings: $3.1 billion to Expedia's $2.9 billion.
Still, it's clear that Expedia, poised to be acquired by USA
Networks Feb. 4, is challenging the once-dominant Travelocity for
online supremacy.
For its second quarter, Expedia posted net income of $5.2
million and earned 8 cents per share. That compared with a net loss
of $25 million and 53 cents per share in that quarter a year
earlier.
Expedia's revenue for the second quarter was $82 million, a
record for the company, compared with $44.4 million in the year-ago
quarter.
Expedia's merchant revenue of $34 million for the quarter was
pumped by the sale of vacation packages and hotel stays. The
company, for instance, booked 1.6 million room nights in the
quarter.
That $34 million revenue was an 185% increase over the
year-earlier quarter. Agency revenue, which is primarily
commission-based, rose 75% to $42 million.
"We accomplished these record results in spite of the travel
slowdown caused by the economy and the events of Sept. 11," said
Expedia chief financial officer Gregory Stanger.
While Expedia recorded a profit for the October-to-December
quarter, Travelocity was in the red, posting a net loss of $25
million or 50 cents per share.