@Expedia cleared to buy rival Orbitz

Expedia, the world’s largest online travel services company by bookings, has won US antitrust approval to buy rival Orbitz Worldwide for US$1.3 billion.

We concluded that Expedia’s acquisition of Orbitz is not likely to substantially lessen competition or harm US consumers,? Bill Baer, head of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, said in a statement.

Expedia, which owns the website that bears its name as well as Hotels.com, Hotwire and other brands, also recently purchased Travelocity. Its rival Priceline Group owns Booking.com, OpenTable and Kayak.

Expedia and Priceline face increasing competition from the likes of Google, airlines and hotel chains, which also sell itineraries on their websites.