Orbitz LLC
Type	Public
Founded	2001
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois
Industry	Travel services
Website	www.orbitz.com

Orbitz, Inc. is an Internet travel company headquartered in Chicago. Orbitz, along with all other Cendant travel businesses, was sold to a subsidiary of the Blackstone Group, in a deal worth over $4.6 billion to form a new company called Travelport. A page out of the Orbitz introductory press package Orbitz was the product name of a noncarbonated fruit-flavored beverage, made by the company Clearly Canadian Beverage Corporation (makers of Clearly Canadian), that had small edible balls floating in it. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 275 pixelsFull resolution‎ (856 × 294 pixels, file size: 11 KB, MIME type: image/png) Orbitz Online Travel logo. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Nickname: Motto: Urbs in Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois Coordinates: , Country State Counties Cook, DuPage Settled 1770s Incorporated March 4, 1837 Government  - Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area  - City 234. ... Official language(s) English[1] Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Largest metro area Chicago Metropolitan Area Area  Ranked 25th  - Total 57,918 sq mi (140,998 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 390 miles (629 km)  - % water 4. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... Nickname: Motto: Urbs in Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois Coordinates: , Country State Counties Cook, DuPage Settled 1770s Incorporated March 4, 1837 Government  - Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area  - City 234. ... Cendant Corporation was a New York-based provider of business and consumer services, primarily within the real estate and travel industries. ... Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) is a prominent private equity and investment management firm founded in 1985 by Peter G. Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman. ... Travelport is a new company with a nearly 30-year track record. ...

Beginnings

Orbitz constituted the airline industry's response to the rise of online travel agencies such as Expedia and Travelocity, as well as the continued increase in GDS fees, and trailed its major competitors by several years. Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, and United Airlines, subsequently joined by American Airlines, invested a combined $145 million to start the project in November 1999. It was code-named T2 — some claimed, meaning "Travelocity Terminator" – but adopted the brand name Orbitz when it commenced corporate operations as DUNC, LLC (the initials of its first four founding airlines) in February 2000. ^[1] The company began Beta testing early the next year, and Orbitz.com officially launched in June 2001.^{[citation needed]} Expedia. ... Travelocity is an online travel agency operated by Travelocity. ... A computer reservations system (CRS) is a computerized system used to store and retrieve information and conduct transactions related to travel. ... Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) is a U.S. certificated air carrier. ... Delta Air Lines, Inc. ... Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA), occasionally known as NWA, is an American airline headquartered in Eagan, Minnesota, near Minneapolis-St. ... United Airlines is a major airline of the United States. ... American Airlines, Inc. ... In software engineering, development stage terminology expresses how far through the development sequence things have progressed and how much further development a product may require. ...

Anti-trust concerns

Even before the site began operating, the company faced intense antitrust scrutiny – after all, five of the six oligopolist "major" airlines, controlling 80 percent of the US air travel market, were collaborating. Several consumer organizations, as well as Orbitz's primary competitors at the time (Expedia, Sabre, Travelocity, Galileo) spent a significant amount of money lobbying the United States Department of Transportation to block the project from the outset, and some 23 state attorneys general also voiced concerns thanks to local competitors complaining. When the DOT permitted the company to move ahead in April 2001, the competitive lobbying effort was switched to the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce. This article is about anti-competitive business behavior. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation. ... In most common law jurisdictions, the Attorney General is the main legal adviser to the government, and in some jurisdictions may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions. ... The Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in Washington, D.C. “Justice Department” redirects here. ... The U.S. House Commerce Committee on Energy and Commerce residing at 2125 Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC is the oldest (208 years) legislative standing committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. ...

Among the concerns raised were these:

• above all, the so-called Most Favored Nation provision, by which the airlines agreed not to cut deals with competing sites under more favorable terms than with Orbitz
• the airlines' agreement to release certain discount fares only to Orbitz or other entities at Orbitz low distribution cost, at the expense of its online and offline competitors
• that Computer Reservation System fee discounts extended to partner airlines would undermine competitors and damage the fledgling online travel industry
• that the airlines would coordinate efforts secretly to reduce discounts
• Orbitz was breaking out the service fee from the ticket price, not making the total price clear

Orbitz for Business logo.

The Interactive Travel Services Association (ITSA), an organization of Internet travel agencies and GDSes - all Orbitz competitors - issued a report in December 2001 arguing that Orbitz was stifling its members. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 205 pixelsFull resolution‎ (862 × 221 pixels, file size: 30 KB, MIME type: image/png) Orbitz for Business logo. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 205 pixelsFull resolution‎ (862 × 221 pixels, file size: 30 KB, MIME type: image/png) Orbitz for Business logo. ...

Partly in response to consumer advocate complaints, Orbitz announced in May 2002 it would make its fares available to customers via its call center for those consumers that did not have computer or internet access.

In July 2003, the Department of Justice ruled that Orbitz was not a cartel and did not pose a threat to competition. Orbitz's rapid growth had not impeded its online competitors' businesses which had continued to grow apace, and no evidence was found of price fixing. Additionally, changes in the marketplace had eroded both the advantages of the Most Favored Nation clause and the webfares that Orbitz had due to its low supplier cost. Orbitz continued its success in the market based upon its unique technology platform. For the American pop-punk band, see Cartel (band). ...

IPO, sale, and future prospects

In August 2003, Orbitz filed to do an initial public offering (IPO). Businessweek, commenting on the proposed IPO, noted that Orbitz lost $5.3 million in the first half of 2003 on revenue of $107 million; that airlines would control the board of directors of Orbitz even after the IPO; and that much of Orbitz's business model was structured to benefit the airlines at the cost of (future) shareholders. ^[2] In November, Orbitz filed paperwork to sell shares at between $22 and $24 each. ^[3]. The company went public on December 18, 2003 at a price per share of $26. ^[4][5] After the IPO, the airlines held 70% of the outstanding stock and over 90% of the voting power. ^[6] Because Orbitz had such a strong brand and consumer acceptance, most shareholders saw the carrier ownership as very positive for its long term sustainability.^{[citation needed]} “IPO” redirects here. ... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

On September 29, 2004, Orbitz was acquired for $1.25 billion by New York-based Cendant Corporation. Cendant paid $27.50 per share. ^[7] is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Cendant Corporation was a New York-based provider of business and consumer services, primarily within the real estate and travel industries. ...

Given Cendant's spate of acquisitions in Europe, there has been some speculation about Orbitz being exported to Europe as a brand or the continued use of acquired Cendant brands like ebookers and Octopus Travel. Currently, there is a large project underway to migrate all Cendant brands onto a common technology platform, with ebookers being migrated to the new platform first, followed by CheapTickets. Ebookers. ... Founded in 1986, CheapTickets. ...

In June 2006, The Blackstone Group, a private equity firm, entered into a definitive agreement with Cendant Corp to acquire Travelport, its travel distribution services business for about $4.3B in cash, a significant reduction in value to the original acquisition prices of the individual companies. Travelport includes the Orbitz travel reservation website used by consumers, the Galileo computer reservations system used by airlines and thousands of travel agents, Gulliver’s Travels and Associates wholesale travel business, and numerous other travel related software brands and solutions. The Blackstone Group is a private investment and advisory firm founded in 1985 by Peter G. Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman. ... Travelport is a new company with a nearly 30-year track record. ...

Technologies

Orbitz runs on a Red Hat Linux based platform and was an early adopter of Sun's Jini platform in a clustered Java environment. [3][4] Both JBoss and BEA WebLogic are used as application servers within their environment along with various other proprietary and open source software. [5] Orbitz licenses ITA Software's Lisp-powered QPX software to power their Orbitz and ebookers are developing a common technology platform, which would enable the same platform to service multiple travel brands in multiple languages in different markets and currencies as well. Red Hat Linux was a popular Linux distribution assembled by Red Hat until the early 2000s, when it was discontinued. ... Sun Microsystems, Inc. ... Jini™ (pronounced like genie) is a network architecture for the construction of distributed systems where scale, rate of change and complexity of interactions within and between networks are extremely important and cannot be satisfactorily addressed by existing technologies. ... An example of a Computer cluster A computer cluster is a group of tightly coupled computers that work together closely so that in many respects they can be viewed as though they are a single computer. ... Java language redirects here. ... JBoss (pronounced Jay Boss) is an open source Java EE-based application server implemented in Java. ... Owned by BEA Systems, Inc, BEA WebLogic is a J2EE Platform product family that includes a J2EE application server- WebLogic Server, an enterprise portal - WebLogic Portal, an Enterprise Application Integration platform, a Transaction Server and Infrastructure - WebLogic Tuxedo, a Telecommunication Platform - WebLogic Communication Platform and also an HTTP web server... Proprietary software is software with restrictions on copying and modifying as enforced by the proprietor. ... Open source software is computer software which source code is available under a license (or arrangement such as the public domain) that meets the Open_source_definition. ... ITA Software, Inc. ... “LISP” redirects here. ... Ebookers. ...

Controversies

Maddox incident

In March, 2005, Orbitz.com received email complaints numbering in the thousands from readers of a website called The Best Page in the Universe.^[8] The author, George Ouzounian, who writes under the name Maddox, recounted an unsatisfactory experience with Orbitz in which he was given an impossible itinerary in 2002. This story was read by over a hundred thousand people within less than a week, and instigated a boycott against the company by many of these readers. The Best Page in the Universe is a personal satirical humor website created by self-proclaimed pirate George Ouzounian, better known as Maddox, from Salt Lake City, Utah. ... George Ouzounian, (b. ...

Orbitz is claimed to have responded to the many thousands of emails that Maddox readers sent to them with an explanation of Maddox's itinerary and changes that they have made in their business practices on Maddox's own website (see above). Maddox responded to this later on his page, and also noted that the email explanation constituted a breach of Orbitz's own privacy policy.

Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines filed a lawsuit against Orbitz for trademark infringement and false advertising in May 2001. Southwest, which had opposed the project from the outset, claimed Orbitz misrepresented its prices and used its trademarks without permission. In July, it withdrew its fares from Airline Tariff Publishing Company, the entity that distributes fare information to Orbitz and others, and dropped its case against Orbitz. Southwest went on to remove themselves from every other online outlet except their own, southwest.com This article is about the American airline. ... “(TM)” redirects here. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Airline Tariff Publishing Company, or ATPCO, is a corporation which publishes mulitiple times per day the latest airfares for more than 500 airlines. ...

Trivia

Orbitzgames.com was launched in September 2005 as a showcase of all the promotional Orbitz games produced to date. [6]

Wink Martindale is the host of the mini-game show "Take on Orbitz" (as featured in the commercials). Wink Martindale entering on Tic Tac Dough Wink Martindale (born Winston Conrad Martindale on December 4, 1933 in Jackson, Tennessee, USA) is a disc jockey and television game show host. ...

Footnotes

1. ^ Edgar Online
2. ^ Business Week
3. ^ Forbes
4. ^ Atlanta Business Journal
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ Motley Fool
7. ^ Orbitz Press Release
8. ^ *Orbitz Blows, The Best Page in the Universe

The Best Page in the Universe is a personal satirical humor website created by self-proclaimed pirate George Ouzounian, better known as Maddox, from Salt Lake City, Utah. ...

References

• ORBZ Securities Registration Statement (S-1/A) (2002-07-03). Retrieved on 2006-11-09.
• Commentary: Orbitz' IPO Doesn't Deserve to Fly (2003-11-29).
• Will Orbitz's IPO Fly? (2003-11-26).
• Orbitz IPO Soars (2003-12-18).
• Orbitz Stock Price at $26 for IPO (2003-12-16).
• Orbitz Loses Altitude (2003-12-18).
• Cendant Corporation Completes Acquisition of Orbitz (2004-11-12).

Numbered references

1. ^ Edgar Online
2. ^ Business Week
3. ^ Forbes
4. ^ Atlanta Business Journal
5. ^ [2]
6. ^ Motley Fool
7. ^ Orbitz Press Release
8. ^ *Orbitz Blows, The Best Page in the Universe

Also see: 2002 (number). ... is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 333rd day of the year (334th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 330th day of the year (331st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Best Page in the Universe is a personal satirical humor website created by self-proclaimed pirate George Ouzounian, better known as Maddox, from Salt Lake City, Utah. ...

External links

• Official Orbitz website
• Yahoo! - Orbitz, Inc. Company Profile