Busy time for Priceline as its announces its second acquisition in a week with a plan to buy restaurant booking service OpenTable.
The definitive agreement to buy OpenTable is an all cash transaction values OpenTable at $2.6 billion.
The deal is $0.8 billion higher than what Priceline paid for US metasearch giant Kayak in late-2012.
OpenTable makes reservations more than 31,000 restaurants worldwide and claims to be helping around 15 million restaurant goers each month.
On mobile alone, OpenTable says it has seated seating more than 125 million customers since it first introduced reservations via devices in 2008. It has apps for Apple, Android, Blackberry and Windows operating systems.
Earlier this week Priceline dipped its toe into the B2B space when it bought hotel digital marketing service startup Buuteeq for an undisclosed fee.
Priceline CEO and president Darren Huston says:
Priceline says OpenTable will continue to be operated from its San Francisco offices, retain its existing management team and run as an independent business within the wider group.
The online restaurant booking space has become hotly contested in recent weeks with TripAdvisor plugging gaps in its offering through the acquisition of La Fourchette.
In its Q1 earnings, TripAdvisor CEO Steve Kaufer described the segment as "extremely under-penetrated".
Meanwhile, Concurinvested in Table 8 in May plugging further gaps in its Perfect Trip quest.
OpenTable CEO Matt Roberts says:
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2014, subject to regulatory clearance in the US.
OpenTable was created in 1998 and saw a significant growth spurt following the acquisition of TopTable in 2008 (with the latter rebranding to its new owner shortly after). With 600 staff in tow, OpenTable now has a presence in almost 20 markets around the world, including China, Canada, Japan, Ireland and Mexico.
The company claims its reservations have generated $20 billion for restaurants.
Running within the heart of the reservation platform is the user generated content aspect, with a dizzying 400,000 reviews contributed to the site every month by customers.