Tag Archives: Pleteno

TRAVEL: Expedia Dumps eLong, Ctrip Takes Over

Bottom line: Ctrip’s purchase of a controlling but minority stake in eLong is the latest in a string of similar equity tie-ups by the company, none of which looks very exciting because these new partners aren’t interested in working closely with Ctrip.

Expedia sells eLong stake

A longtime but largely empty cross-border Internet partnership has finally come to an end, with word that US online travel agent Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) has dumped its stake in Chinese laggard eLong (Nasdaq: LONG). In an interesting twist to the story, the group buying eLong includes Chinese industry leader Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP), which seems to be buying small stakes in many of its rivals these days without buying anyone outright.

Personally speaking, I don’t see much reason to get excited about Ctrip’s latest buy, even though investors seemed to think differently. eLong is a perfect example of a company that had huge advantages due to its early arrival to the online travel market and longtime partnership with Expedia. And yet it failed to parlay any of that into a market leading position, and instead has become an afterthought as it got overtaken by younger, more innovative companies like Tuniu (Nasdaq: TOUR) and Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR). Read Full Post…