Comments on: Orbitz, the worst IPO of 2007? http://gigaom.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/ Sat, 25 May 2013 14:15:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Jim http://gigaom.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170278 Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:53:48 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170278 I have used Orbitz, hotwire, Expedia and Travelocity, all have their pro’s and con’s.

I spotted a site called Anyfares.com, find air tickets so cheap that my savings were about 35% cheaper than Orbitz, hotwire, Expedia and Travelocity. Flights internationally such as Europe in particular that are great and South American, China and middle East countries, they have excellent rates. Domestic though there are some what competitive where I used either Hotwire or the airlines direct from their web sites.

What I really like about Anyfares.com is they sell tickets on US dollars in foreign countries and all their tickets are e-tickets so if you are in France and need a fight to St.Petersburg Russia or London or Frankfurt, they sell everything in US dollars and you have your tickets emailed in 10 minutes so you can just travel just like that. Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity, they sell their tickets if you are out of the US, they will charged you the currency in that country if you want to fly from there to somewhere else. So if I was in France for example and I want to fly to London, Frankfurt or anywhere, they will charged me in Euros or Pound Notes (it is like charging you double when the US dollar is so weak) when if you are an American and want to save, you can’t save because Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity will charged the currency if you are outside the United States but with Anyfares.com, they don’t. Euros, Swiss Marks, British Pounds, Russian Rubles and etc, they currencies are high to the US dollar and if you are an American, you are stuck if you have to meet those currencies if you have only US dollars.

So consider if you have a money budget and you can’t afford the high currencies, try http://www.anyfares.com

Jim

]]> By: Another X - Orbiter http://gigaom.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170277 Sat, 04 Aug 2007 05:08:18 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170277 Having just left Orbitz I can tell you that they have some of the most talented people in the industry, although IMHO they have too many kids in high level managerial positions with little to no experience in formal management training. Nevertheless their technical expertise is what makes their website service a success. Again IMHO the IPO failed because stockholders can read between the lines and as stated earlier in the BLOG it was a premature attempt by Blackstone to repay their debt to Travelport and possibly flip the company again in the very near future with no short or long term plan for economic growth except for reducing staff, reducing budget and cutting programs.
Don’t blame the people of Orbitz, blame Blackstone for not having a positive plan.

]]> By: Jeremy McMillan http://gigaom.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170276 Fri, 20 Jul 2007 18:48:10 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170276 All of these people I used to work with at Orbitz had been ignoring my LinkedIn invitations but have suddenly embraced my network. I don’t think there is much talent working there any more. Just a lot of bodies holding down the fort.

The main service they provide is an abstraction to hide all of the frenetic intraday repricing by the suppliers (Airlines) from Joe Holiday. Airlines do all kinds of evil crap to their fares (multiple fares offered for the same seat on the same trip with retractions, additions and revisions multiple times a day). Suppliers (Airlines) still own almost all the business, and the distribution business has no power. Orbitz is a long Term Loser, or at best a dog.

]]> By: Sumitra Menon http://gigaom.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170275 Wed, 16 May 2007 12:28:36 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170275 Leading Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant Sramana Mitra, evaluates Orbitz in terms of Context, Content, Commerce, Community, Vertical Search and Personalization, based on her Web 3.0 framework.

]]> By: Jedidiyah http://gigaom.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170274 Wed, 16 May 2007 12:27:45 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170274 Leading Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant Sramana Mitra, evaluates Orbitz< in terms of Context, Content, Commerce, Community, Vertical Search and Personalization, based on her Web 3.0 framework.

]]> By: ExOrbiter http://gigaom.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170273 Mon, 14 May 2007 13:36:46 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170273 Agreed, but a couple of corrections:
Galileo was never “Europe’s answer to Orbitz” — it is a GDS. Travelport acquired Worldspan to merge with Galileo. Those businesses are very B2B.

eBookers is the dog dragging down Orbitz numbers. That was a terrible acquisition and has been hugely unprofitable by all accounts.

]]> By: Martin http://gigaom.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170272 Mon, 14 May 2007 13:16:23 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170272 There is one very telling sentence in this document which really says it all:

“Partially offsetting the higher domestic volume was a $17 million reduction in net revenue due to lower average commissions on our air transactions and reduced paper ticket fees as airlines continue to move toward electronic ticketing. In addition, 2006 air net revenue was reduced by $8 million as a result of the final contractual step-down in commissions paid to us by the airlines with which we have charter associate agreements.”

Enough said… anybody who can’t see the curve in their earnings in terms of commission from airlines, well…

]]> By: Brian E http://gigaom.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170271 Sun, 13 May 2007 12:02:45 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170271 You say that “Orbitz isn’t a bad company, and there’s nothing wrong its spinoff” and then later “Any way you slice it, the company had a net loss and an operating loss in 2004, 2005 and 2006″. I think you should look at your definition of what’s a bad company.

]]> By: Mike B http://gigaom.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170270 Sat, 12 May 2007 22:17:24 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170270 Looks like Interactive Brokers is shaping up to be the worst IPO of 2007. Only a week after IPO it is already 10% below the IPO price.

]]> By: the priest http://gigaom.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170269 Sat, 12 May 2007 05:07:39 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/orbitz-the-worst-ipo-of-2007/#comment-170269 Despite the litany of naysayer shorters orbitz has a firm hold of the online travel market that is growing at…a pretty good clip?

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