ITA Software, up until April, had been a privately held company, but Google today shed a bit of light on its acquisition’s revenue numbers.

Google’s “other revenues” — meaning everything but advertising revenues — increased 51.6% in the third quarter to $385 million and an official attributed much of the boost to the “year over year impact of ITA.”

Google acquired ITA in mid-April so Google’s third quarter results, which were released today, included the first full quarter with ITA in the fold.

The $385 million in other revenue amounted to a $131 million increase compared with the third quarter of 2010, and one analyst surmised that about $75 million to $100 million of that increase might be attributed to the presence of ITA and its revenue, largely from airlines.

Of course, a $75 million to $100 million quarterly revenue contribution from ITA is just a drop in the bucket when you consider Google’s $9.7 billion in total revenue for the third quarter.

Considering that the third quarter usually is a relatively strong one on a seasonal basis for travel, it isn’t hard to extrapolate that ITA’s annual run rate could be in the $200 to $250 million ballpark.

That might make ITA’s airline search business an even larger enterprise on a revenue basis than Kayak’s travel metasearch business, which recorded about $171 million in revenue in 2010 and nearly $110 million in the first six months of 2011.

Or at least the two, albeit different, businesses would be in the same conversation when considering their relative size.

Google may have considered buying Kayak at one juncture several years ago, but settled on ITA and its technology for $700 million, and rolled out Google Flight Search in mid-September.

In a conference call today about Google’s third quarter results, Susan Wojcicki, vice president of advertising, rehashed a familiar refrain about the “speedy” flight-search solution, saying the launch was “the takeoff and not the final destination.”

Meanwhile, CEO Larry Page defended Google’s approach in various verticals, including travel, when asked about Google’s strategy in light of the company getting much closer to the transaction on several fronts.

Page said Google merely is trying to improve users’ search experience, as it has done throughout its history.

Coincidentally, Tom Barnett, counsel to Expedia, submitted answers to questions posed by the US Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, meeting today’s deadline to respond to the committee.

Source:http://www.tnooz.com/2011/10/13/news/google-sheds-light-on-size-of-ita-software-business/

Google Inc.’s $700 million acquisition of travel technology company ITA Software is now complete.

In its corporate blog, Mountain View-based Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) said the U.S. Department of Justice approved the deal Wednesday.

“It’s important to us that ITA continue with business as usual, providing great service to its business partners. We indicated last July that we would honor ITA’s existing contracts. Today we’ve formally committed to let ITA’s customers extend their contracts into 2016. We’ve also agreed to let both current and new customers license ITA’s QPX software on ‘fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms’ into 2016—along with related commitments aimed at making ITA’s technology available to other travel sites,” Google wrote in the blog post.

Earlier this month Google’s acquisition plans received conditional approval from the DOJ, which also set some rules.

“It’s rewarding to see this next chapter of ITA unfold,” said Scott Tobin, a general partner at Menlo Park-based Battery Ventures.

ITA was a portfolio company for the VC firm, which led a $100 million venture capital financing round in January 2006.

“We invested based on the strength of ITA’s technology and vision, and our confidence in the team’s ability to execute. They’ve innovated and built over the years, and earned their spot as an industry leader. This is a terrific outcome for ITA and its customers, for the travel industry at large, and for us as investors. Google will be a great partner in its next phase of innovation and growth,” Tobin said.

Source:http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2011/04/13/battery-ventures-completes-ita.html

Google Inc. has gained approval from the U.S. Department of Justice for the $700 million takeover of ITA Software, whose software is employed by online travel sites such as Expedia, TripAdvisor, and Kayak, as well as several major airlines. This acquisition highlights the new era of CEO Larry Page’s management in diversifying the world’s largest Internet search company into strategic key growth areas like social networking, mobile, and travel.

The move will enable Google to tap into ITA’s competitive Web-based travel purchasing platform, and with the existing functionality of ITA’s tools, Google plans to “develop exciting new flight search tools,” according to the company’s senior vice president of commerce and local, Jeff Huber in an official blog post.

“How cool would it be if you could type ‘flights to somewhere sunny for under $500 in May’ into Google and get not just a set of links but also flight times, fares, and a link to sites where you can actually buy tickets quickly and easily?” said Huber.

Although third parties like Expedia will continue to use the software, Google has agreed to install firewalls that protect the integrity of client information as well as a process to evaluate any questions about fees.

“The proposed settlement assures that airfare comparison and booking websites will be able to compete effectively, providing benefits for consumers,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joseph Wayland said on Friday April 8, according to Bloomberg.

There was vocal opposition to the merger, with companies such as Microsoft, Kayak.com, Expedia, and other third parties arguing that Google’s acquisition of ITA compromised competition. They previously formed FairSearch.org in opposition to the merger.

Google’s dominant position will likely result in more stringent guidelines and vigilance in the monitoring of its activities. “We continue to scrutinize broader questions about the fairness of Google’s search engine, and whether it preferences its own products and services to the detriment of competitors,” said Sen. Herb Kohl, chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, reported Reuters.

Source:http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/business/google-authorized-to-buy-travel-software-company-ita-54595.html

Google and the U.S. Justice Department are close to an agreement that will clear the search giant’s $700 million acquisition of flight-data firm ITA Software in return for granting federal regulators the authority to monitor a part of its operations.

“Google and the Justice Department are close to an agreement that would clear the search giant’s $700 million acquisition of ITA Software,” The Wall Street Journal reported citing a source.

The proposed agreement is not final, and could fall apart, the report noted.

In case, Google and the Justice Department clinch the deal, it would mark a turning point for the company in its rapid growth from a Silicon Valley start-up to a digital giant so powerful that it is drawing the sort of government scrutiny accorded to AT&T and Microsoft in earlier decades.

The proposed agreement would for the first time allow government anti-trust monitoring of a part of Google’s operations to assure that the company does not unfairly use its control of ITA’s airline data to put rivals at a disadvantage, the report said citing sources.

The proposed monitoring could set a benchmark for future Google acquisitions. The company, having once conceded that U.S. regulators could oversee its behaviour on a continuing basis, would be more likely to face antitrust enforcers’ demands to accept such terms again, the report said.

The company has been facing growing pressure from authorities in the U.S. and Europe on both anti-trust and privacy matters.

Last week, Google agreed to submit independent privacy audits for the next 20 years as part of a legal settlement with the Federal Trade Commission of claims it violated users’ privacy at its social network, Buzz, the daily pointed out.

According to the publication, spokespersons for Google, ITA and the Justice Department declined comment.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/business/companies/article1617514.ece

The U.S. Justice Department’s review of Google Inc’s planned acquisition of airline ticketing software company ITA Software is focusing on making sure ITA’s products remain available, even to Google’s rivals, according to a source close to the deal.

Google’s proposed acquisition of ITA has sparked worries in the tech world that travel websites such as Orbitz Worldwide Inc, Kayak and TripAdvisor could be deprived of ITA’s software.

Kayak, for example, is asking for assurances that Google will extend its software licenses when they expire, that the software is upgraded and that a firewall is placed around the companies’ proprietary software, which operates in conjunction with the ITA software and may be in ITA servers, to protect their intellectual property.

But Google has been unwilling to give them those assurances, said Kayak spokesman Robert Birge. “We have found the conversations with Google to be frankly wanting,” he told Reuters.

Google, the world’s No. 1 Internet search engine, announced plans to acquire ITA Software for $700 million in cash in July.

Tom Barnett, former chief of the Justice Department’s antitrust division who now represents Expedia, said it would be difficult to craft a settlement to take the licensing assurances and intellectual property protection into account.

“I’m not saying it’s impossible. I’m saying it’s difficult,” said Barnett, a critic of the deal.

But Robert Doyle, an antitrust expert at the law firm Doyle, Barlow and Mazard PLLC, said a focus on licensing would mean that the deal would go through.

“That’s a key issue,” he said. “That would indicate that settlement has been proposed in some format and they’re testing it.”

Google has argued that since it does not compete against ITA Software, the deal would not affect competition in the online travel industry and, thus, is legal.

“We’re excited to inject more choice for consumers into the online travel space, and while we continue to cooperate with the Justice Department’s review, we are ultimately confident that this acquisition will increase competition,” said Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined comment on the investigation.

LOOKING AT MANIPULATED SEARCH RESULTS?

Early in the probe, the Justice Department’s antitrust division asked questions about allegations that Google favored certain websites in searches, sources close to the deal said.

Foundem, a British price comparison website, is one of several companies that have accused Google of manipulation results so that Foundem and other rival websites show up lower in search results. Users overwhelmingly tend to click on higher results.

The Justice Department asked companies about search fairness issues before and after Google announced in August that it was going to a “second request,” which essentially means that the antitrust probe of the deal would be more in depth.

Most of the questions came after the second request into the $700 million deal was announced, said one source who has been in contact with the Justice Department about the deal and asked not to be named so as not to jeopardize his relationship with that department.

“It’s a theory of harm that the DOJ is looking at,” said a second source, who also asked not to be named so as to not jeopardize his relationship with the Justice Department. “They treat their stuff differently than they treat other people.”

European regulators are also looking into Google’s search practices.

The ITA buy is part of Google’s acquisitions and recruiting spree as it aims to ensure its online products remain popular as surfers turn to new services like the wildly popular Facebook and wireless gadgets.

Source:http://www.balkans.com/open-news.php?uniquenumber=91479