Expedia, Inc. Acquires Stake in eLong, Inc. from Renren Inc.
BEIJING, Nov. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Expedia, Inc. (EXPE)
("Expedia"), the world's largest online travel company, and Renren Inc. (RENN)
("Renren"), China's leading real-name social networking internet platform,
jointly announced today that Renren has sold its investment in eLong, Inc. (LONG)
("eLong") to Expedia for approximately $72.4 million, or $23 per ADS.
"We're pleased to have an opportunity to increase our investment in eLong as we
see China as a key market in our efforts to expand internationally," said Dara
Khosrowshahi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Expedia. "We have been
very happy with the strategic and operational progress made by eLong and look
forward to many more years of success."
"Our early investment in eLong helped us build mutually beneficial commercial
ties as well as generate strong returns for our shareholders. Renren and eLong
will continue to work on a number of joint initiatives, including Nuomi hotel
group-buy, one of the largest hotel group-buy sites in China. We will continue
this strong relationship with eLong and deliver more popular products together
moving forward," commented Joseph Chen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Renren.
"Renren will continue to be a valued business partner to us, and we look forward
to future cooperation with Renren," said Guangfu Cui, eLong's Chief Executive
Officer.
About Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc. is the largest online travel company in the world, with an
extensive brand portfolio that includes more than 90 localized Expedia.com?- and
Hotels.com?-branded sites; leading U.S. discount travel site Hotwire?; leading
agency hotel company Venere.com(TM); Egencia?, the world's fifth largest
corporate travel management company; the world's largest travel community
TripAdvisor? Media Group; destination activities provider ExpediaLocalExpert?;
luxury travel specialist Classic Vacations?; and China's second largest booking
site eLong(TM). The company delivers consumers value in leisure and business
travel, drives incremental demand and direct bookings to travel suppliers, and
provides advertisers vast opportunity to reach the most valuable audience of
in-market travel consumers anywhere through TripAdvisor Media Group and Expedia
Media Solutions. Expedia also powers bookings for some of the world's leading
airlines and hotels, top consumer brands, high traffic websites, and thousands of
active affiliates through Expedia? Affiliate Network.
About Renren Inc.
Renren Inc. (RENN) operates the leading real name social networking internet
platform in China. It enables users to connect and communicate with each other,
share information and user generated content, play online games, listen to music,
shop for deals and enjoy a wide range of other features and services. Renren's
platform includes the main social networking website Renren.com, the online games
center game.Renren.com, and the social commerce website Nuomi.com. Renren had
approximately 137 million activated users as of September 30, 2011. |
