Thursday, July 1, 2010

Google Buys Travel Software Firm ITA For $700M

Mountain View-based Google said Thursday afternoon that it has acquired ITA Software, a Cambridge-based firm which develops airline ticketing software. The deal was worth $700M in cash. ITA had been rumored to be in negotiations with Google, with a number of online travel sites--ITA's customers--looking to prevent Google from acquiring the firm. Google said that the buy will allow it to "create new ways for users to more easily find flight information online". ITA was founded by a team of MIT computer scientists. Google said it will "honor all existing agreements" with ITA, but did not say if it intends to compete with ITA's existing customers. ITA's customers include Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Bing, Continental Airlines, Hotwire, Kayak, Orbitz, Southwest Airlines, TripAdvisor, United Airlines, US Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways.