Ctrip, Qunar Vacation Business Units to Merge
Sina Tech, 11/22/16
Yang Tao, CEO of Chinese online travel service provider Ctrip's (Nasdaq: CTRP) vacation travel business, recently sent an internal company-wide email announcing that Ctrip's vacation business unit (VBU) will merge with the vacations division of online travel services firm Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR). The two divisions will work together in the online travel market, and Qunar's offline business divisions will also collaborate with Ctrip's VBU. Ctrip's senior management also denied earlier rumors that Ctrip plans to acquire Nanjing-based Tuniu Technology (Nasdaq: TOUR), operator of online travel site Tuniu.
Yang said that in the future Qunar's vacations business will continue to operate independently and will coordinate with headquarters and its other subsidiaries on procurements, services, and technology development. Ctrip has already completed a number of investments and acquisitions related to online and offline vacation sales channels with the goal of developing a tourism ecosystem.
Jane Sun, CEO of Ctrip, said that the company adheres to three principles as it acquires new businesses: the acquisition must be related to the travel industries, the investment target must be a leader within its industry vertical, and the investment amount must be rational and proportionate.
Editor's Note: Qunar's main shareholders are Ctrip and Internet firm Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). For more information on this topic, please see "Tuniu Denies Rumor of Merging with Ctrip's Vacation Business Unit," MD 11/16/16 issue.
Keywords: Jane Sun Yang Tao Internet Ctrip online travel Qunar Tuniu Baidu BIDU CTRP QUNR TOUR vacation travel M&A
Sending
