Friday, June 15, 2007

How much for Opodo?

Ignacio Martos, in an exclusive interview with Travolution this week, set out Opodo's strategy for the next few years.

Alongside plans to launch in other markets - outside of Europe - in 2008, the refreshingly free-speaking Martos said this to a question concerning rumours about Opodo being offloaded by majority shareholder Amadeus:

"We are always up for sale."
Martos laughed when we offered him £100 million for the company.

So how much, then, realistically?

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags:

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

seriously, 100m is about right.

Travolution Blogger said...

MLF: It was a figure I plucked out of thin air as a joke during the interview, so didn't really have to time to think about it seriously.

Anonymous said...

Too much. 75 million.

Anonymous said...

Really enjoying all the opodo coverage but disagree on one element. Kev's leader said arguably one of best known online travel brands, second to lastminute or something like that but here's my argument for why it wasn't. Opodo came after all the hype and launch of the others - expedia, travelocity, ebookers etc. It was also almost talked to death even before launch.
Then, when it was finally launched it was around the time its airline founders were beginning to attack distribution costs.

Travolution Blogger said...

this is the leader, anonymous mentions (from our e-news on Friday):

"Opodo had one of the strongest brands in travel in the early-2000s, second perhaps only to the pink bonanza belonging to Lastminute.com.

"But as the online travel market has grown, Opodo – some argue – has lost the profile it once held, especially in the UK, as being one of the best travel sites around.

"Ignacio Martos, Opodo’s chief executive, has been quiet since he joined the company late last year. But he has now agreed to talk to the media – well, Travolution.

"In an exclusive session with us this week, Martos outlined the company’s strategy, including a desire to try new markets outside of Europe and what he believes will be majority shareholder Amadeus’s long term view of the business.

"Meanwhile, knocked down the story list today – due to Opodo – is news that TripAdvisor is heading down the Facebook route. I wonder why…"

Anonymous said...

the 100 is a joke - opodo are still hot outside the uk, particularly in germany and france. cant forget about that when you talk numbers

Travolution Blogger said...

Anonymous: So what is your price, based on the popularity of Opoodo in Europe?