Kayak Says DOJ Mandates on Google's ITA Acquisition Are Sufficient to Protect Travel Competitors

It appears the Department of Justice has heard the cries of travel companies and consumer watchdogs, who threw a fit over Google's planned $700 million acquisition of ITA Software.

Many travel sites, from Microsoft's Bing to Kayak to Expedia, use ITA's technology, which helps enable consumers to search for airfares and flight times. If Google were allowed to buy ITA, some believed, it could give the company an unfair advantage in the travel-search business.

The Department of Justice approved Google's proposed purchase of ITA--with some important caveats. The DOJ has mandated that Google must adhere to a slew of requirements to ensure that healthy competition remains in the online travel industry. For now, the DOJ's decision has satisfied critics.

"We are extremely pleased with the decision," says Robert Birge, chief marketing officer of Kayak. Fairsearch.org, a coalition of businesses that includes Kayak, Expedia, and Bing, also lauded the DOJ's moves. “Today’s antitrust enforcement action by the Justice Department is a clear win for consumers and competition in the marketplace," Fairsearch said in a statement. "Google’s attempt to acquire unrestricted control over ITA, which would have violated antitrust laws, has been thwarted--representing a significant step in the right direction." According to Birge, the DOJ has protected Kayak and sites like it in two key ways. First, it ensures the company's continued access to ITA, a product that is critical to Kayak's technology. Second and most importantly, "they've protected our own technology that we've developed over the last seven years and that sits on [ITA's] servers," says Birge.