| ADVERTISING; Orbitz Searches for a Deal for Its Campaigns ORBITZ, the discount travel Web site, is sending an important advertising assignment on a cross-country trip -- and a principal reason is the same one that computer users visit orbitz.com: to try to save money. The assignment to create campaigns for Orbitz Worldwide is leaving Mullen in Boston, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, for an |
| SPENDING IT; Move Over, Orbitz WITH so much of college readily accessible on the Web, families may be forgiven for relying on the Internet, too, for advice on how to pay the tuition. And loan companies and entrepreneurs are lining up to give it to them. ''Don't just do a Google search,'' warns Robert Shireman, executive director at the nonprofit Project on Student Debt. ''It's |
| ADDENDA; Unit of Interpublic Gets Orbitz Account Orbitz, the travel Web site, has named Mullen in Wenham, Mass., part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, as the creative agency on its account, with spending estimated at $50 million to $60 million a year. The assignment had been handled since January 2003 by the Chicago office of Y&R, which was dismissed last week. Although ''Y&R was a very |
| Cendant Will Buy Orbitz for $1.25 Billion In an effort to sell more travel packages online, the Cendant Corporation, the world's largest hotel franchiser, agreed yesterday to buy Orbitz, the Internet travel agency, for $1.25 billion. Cendant, which franchises Days Inn hotels and owns the Avis car rental system, will pay $27.50 a share for Orbitz, a 32 percent premium over Tuesday's closing |
| TRAVEL ADVISORY; Orbitz Adds Maps For Aircraft Seating A drawback of researching flights online is not being able to ask an agent how many seats are left on a flight you're considering, which tells you how quickly you have to book, or whether your family can sit together. Travel companies are beginning to address that problem by letting customers view available seats earlier in the booking process when |
| Technology Briefing | Internet: Orbitz Posts Profit, But Shares Fall Orbitz, the Internet travel site, posted a first-quarter profit yesterday, reversing a loss of a year ago, but its shares fell on a disappointing second-quarter forecast. Orbitz, which sells reservations for airlines, hotels, rental cars, cruises and vacation packages, said strong growth in hotel revenue -- which more than tripled because of an |
| TRAVEL ADVISORY; Orbitz Simplifies Car Rental Charges In an effort to make it easier for customers to compare car rental prices, Orbitz, the online travel site, has upgraded its service to display the total price travelers can expect to pay for a rental car on the first page of its search results, in addition to displaying the weekly or daily charge. Now Orbitz includes mandatory taxes and fees in its |
| Technology Briefing | Services: Orbitz Reports $14.6 Million Loss The online travel agent Orbitz reported a fourth-quarter loss yesterday of $14.6 million in its first financial results as a public company, but it said revenue and bookings rose sharply, enabling it to achieve operating profitability for 2003. The company, which is backed by the five biggest American airlines, said revenue from air reservations |
| Orbitz Chief Declines Payment Tied to Stock The chairman and chief executive of Orbitz, the online travel agency that went public a month ago, has decided not to collect more than $500,000 that he could have claimed because of the decline in his company's stock price, a spokeswoman for Orbitz said. Jeffrey G. Katz, who has run Orbitz since July 2000, has an unusual compensation arrangement |
| Orbitz Slips on Its First Day As China Life Moves Higher In their trading debut in New York, shares of the China Life Insurance Company rose about 26 percent, while Orbitz rose initially but fell into negative territory later. ''They were both oversubscribed to a huge degree, so it shows you there was a lot of cash on the sidelines,'' John O'Donoghue, co-head of listed trading at Credit Suisse First |