Farecast sold for USD75m - Rumour

Mon Apr 14 2008, 20:40 PM

Airfare search engine Farecast has sold itself for more than USD75m, says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer quoting "a source with knowledge of the situation". Farecast CEO Hugh Crean declined to comment on the matter. The buyer is not known, but a market insider quoted by the Seattle P.I suggests it could be rival Expedia. Expedia, however, refused to comment on "rumours and speculation". Based in Seattle, Farecast secured USD12.1m last year in a round led by Sutter Hill Ventures, alongside return backers Greylock, Madrona and WRF Capital.

Deal Details

  • Status completed
  • Amount US$75m
  • Seller Farecast

If confirmed, the deal would mark the second major merger in the online travel sector in less than six months. Last Dec, market leader Kayak bought rival SideStep for an estimated USD200m. The takeover consolidated Kayak's dominance of the online travel sector. According to comScore data from Jan, Kayak was the most popular travel site in the US with more than 4m unique users, while SideStep ranked third with nearly 2m. Farecast came in fourth with 966,000 unique users.