Booking Holdings Inc.

In 1996, Jay S. Walker founded Priceline.com Incorporated in Stamford, Connecticut, which launched Priceline.com, an online travel site, that used a Name Your Own Price bidding model.

On March 31, 1999, Priceline.com Incorporated became a public company via an initial public offering, making Walker, who owned a 35% stake in the company, a multi-billionaire. The company's original ticker symbol was "PCLN".

The company experimented with selling other products and services such as groceries, gasoline, home mortgages, and cars, but these offerings were discontinued in 2000.

In July 2005, the company acquired Booking.com for $133 million and was merged with ActiveHotels.com, a European online hotel reservation company, purchased by Priceline Group for $161 million in September 2004.

In April 2014, the name of the company was changed from priceline.com Incorporated to The Priceline Group Inc.

In August 2017, Kayak acquired the assets of Mundi, a Brazilian metasearch company.

In February 2018, the company changed its name to Booking Holdings and changed its Nasdaq ticker symbol to the current "BKNG".

In 2021, the company offered to acquire GoToGate; however, the deal was blocked by European regulators in 2023.

Management history

Jeffery H. Boyd was named chief executive officer in 2002 and remained in that role until becoming chairman in 2013.

Effective January 2014, Darren Huston was named chief executive officer of the company, replacing Jeff Boyd. In April 2016, Huston was forced to resign following an undisclosed personal relationship with an employee, and Boyd was named interim CEO.

Effective January 2017, Glenn D. Fogel was named chief executive officer and president.