Google Acquires ITA Software, Officially In the Travel Business

According to the Google blog, it looks like the search titan will soon be venturing into the well-charted territory of travel information. The post laments how complicated travel search (apparently?) is these days, and says that Google plans to streamline the search, making it easy for anyone to find the best travel options for their trips.

To do this, Google has signed an agreement to buy Boston-based company ITA, which develops new, better ways to organize and present airline data, from price and availability to flight times.

Google is paying $700 million cash to buy ITA, according to Reuters. They reportedly beat out Expedia, Kayak, and Travelport in the bigging.

In their post, Google mentions its interest in adding other partners to the project. The world is running out of things you could possibly want to search for that Google doesn’t have covered with a specific service. The deal with ITA isn’t fully closed yet, though if they’re writing about it, chances are good that it will go through without a hitch.

(Via Google’s Blog, title image via Funny Potato)

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Jamie Block