Google Travel Service Faces Justice Department Scrutiny

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are taking a closer look at Google Inc.'s plans to buy travel technology company ITA Software Inc. in a $700 million all-cash deal announced last month.

In a blog post on Friday, Google said the Justice Department has asked it for more information about the proposed acquisition, which could position the search giant to compete with popular travel sites such as Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz.

ITA Software, a 500-employee company started in 1996 by computer scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, provides technology that helps run the reservation systems of several airlines. Google says the acquisition will provide it with tools to help consumers search for flights, compare fares and book tickets.

Comments

[billyzazen]

11:53 PM on 08/28/2010

it will go like this; "ah.....OK....looks great....thanks for stopping by..."

[David Lou]

12:29 PM on 08/28/2010

Scrutiny was expected but it's nonsense really, the DOJ doesn't have a problem with the anti-consumer United Airlines and Continental Airlines merger and is asking for a second review of this potentially consumer beneficial deal? it's really just a waste of time and money.

[srsousa]

10:49 AM on 08/28/2010

is Google getting to big to fail? It is a bit scary since they control so much information, and the google CEO says things that make me nervous - too much power

[hypnotoad72]

11:17 PM on 08/28/2010

Possibly, but the middle class is what should be too big to fail.

[EricBishop]

05:21 PM on 08/29/2010

"Boo, hoo...the story of the American middle class", yeah, I read that book too.

[hypnotoad72]

11:18 PM on 08/28/2010

Sorry for the tangent before the relevant response - you're right, it is a worrisome issue and it is indeed too much power for one company to have.

[Hki]

09:13 AM on 08/28/2010

What a slice of the pie it'll be if this deal goes through...

[uncc49er]

07:35 PM on 08/28/2010

ITA is the pioneer in designing algorithms for purchasing online travel tickets. Every time you buy a ticket on a travel website they might be using their algorithms on the background. Google either has to spend years and tons of money to come up with novel solutions for an optimized online ticket price or they can go and buy ITA as they want to. But, as big as Google is, they might single handedly dominate the field having access to the original algorithms, putting all other sites out of business.

[JackTheSkipper]

12:11 PM on 08/29/2010

Is it that complicated to come up with a search algorithm for booking a flight? Considering Google is a king in the search engine technology, they can come up with one pretty fast. They are just trying to buy out the competition. That's all.