Party of two: Priceline acquires OpenTable for $2.6 billion

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Priceline has agreed to acquire OpenTable for $2.6 billion (£1.5 billion, AUD$2.77 billion). The acquisition will enable Priceline to add restaurant bookings to its existing services, which include hotel, flight and car reservations.

OpenTable processes more than 180 million reservations annually for more than 31,000 restaurants. More than 125 million users have made a reservation through OpenTable on a mobile device. The San Francisco-based company generated $190 million (£112 million, AUD$202 million) in revenue and $33.4 million (£19.6 million, AUD$35.5 million) in profit last year.

The aforementioned numbers will be added to Priceline's existing business, which generates more than one million hotel reservations per day across 480,000 properties in more than 200 countries. Priceline generated $6.8 billion (£4 billion, AUD$7.25 billion) in revenue and $1.9 billion (£1.12 billion, AUD$2.02 billion) in profit in 2013.

By joining forces, the two companies will make it easier for consumers to reserve every aspect of their vacation experience through one single application.

So what happens to OpenTable?

The deal is expected to close during the third quarter of 2014. OpenTable will continue to be led by its management team and it will operate as a separate business.

Priceline acquired competitor Kayak for $1.6 billion (£1.12 billion, AUD$1.72 billion) in 2012.

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