Hotwire.com
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2000 |
| Founders | Karl Peterson Eric Grosse Gregg Brockway Spencer Rascoff |
| Headquarters | , United States |
| Products | Airline travel Car rental services Hotel reservation Vacation packages |
| Revenue | US$ 35 million (2018) |
Number of employees | 300+ |
| Parent | Expedia Group |
| Website | www |
Hotwire is a travel website that offers airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, and vacation packages. It operates by selling off unsold travel inventory at discounted prices. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Hotwire, Inc. is an operating company of the Expedia Group.[1][2]
History
Hotwire was launched in 2000, by Karl Peterson, Eric Grosse, Gregg Brockway, and Spencer Rascoff. Initial funding came by founding partner Texas Pacific Group (TPG), a leading private equity firm that Karl Peterson used to work for, that invested an initial $75 million into Hotwire.[3] Hotwire first offered tickets from six major airlines, that also invested into Hotwire's launch: American, Northwest (now Delta), Continental (now United), America West (now American), United, and US Airways (now American).[4][5] Prior to its formal launch, Hotwire was codenamed Purple Demon.[6]
In September 2003, IAC/InterActiveCorp, which had acquired Expedia in 2001, announced its acquisition of Hotwire.com for $663 million.[7] In 2004, an internet research firm estimated that through cross-advertising between Hotwire and Expedia, IAC was able to reach a total of an additional 1.5 million unique visitors to both websites monthly.[8]
Company affairs
Leadership
Karl Peterson, one of Hotwire's four founding members, served as Hotwire's first CEO. In 2006, Hotwire was overseen by Founder and CFO (2004-2006) Eric Grosse. In January 2009, Eric Grosse became President of Expedia Worldwide and Clem Bason took over as President of the Hotwire Group.[9][10]
References
- ^ Rosenbloom, Stephanie (2015-02-25). "Booking Flights and Hotels: Online Agents or Direct?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-21.
- ^ "Washington Post: The frugal traveler's essential list of budget travel hacks". The Washington Post.
- ^ "Hotwire Launch to Provide Yet Another Way to Offload Cheap Inventory". World Airline News. September 8, 2000. Archived from the original on 2006-03-13.
- ^ Wade, Betsy (2000-11-12). "TRAVEL ADVISORY; New Web Site Offers Discounts on 6 Airlines". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
- ^ Schaal, Dennis (2016). "The Definitive oral history of online travel". Skift. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ "Can purple demon avoid Orbitz errors?". Elliott.org. July 5, 2000. Archived from the original on June 24, 2018. Retrieved March 11, 2008.
- ^ Julia Angwin; Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal. "InterActiveCorp to Buy Hotwire, As Online-Travel Push Continues". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
- ^ Tedeschi, Bob (2004-07-05). "E-Commerce Report; InterActiveCorp is finding ways to cross-promote its properties and increase its customer base". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
- ^ "Clem Bason press release". Archived from the original on 2009-03-01.
- ^ "Management team". Hotwire. Archived from the original on July 5, 2009.