Hotels.com Considering Buyout Bid From USA Interactive

DALLAS— A special committee of independent directors of Hotels.com will continue to review the proposed buyout bid from parent company, USA Interactive, even though the deal has been put on indefinite hold. “You want to be prepared, because you dont know what will happen and when,” David Litman, chairman/chief executive of Hotels.com told the Dallas Morning News. Hotels.coms committee has hired lawyers and is in the process of hiring bankers, Litman said, but hes staying focused on selling hotel rooms. On June 3, New York-based USA Interactive said it wanted to buy the minority interest it doesnt own in three subsidiaries— Hotels.com, Ticketmaster and Expedia.com— in a stock deal worth $4.5 billion. The offer represented a 7.5% premium to the closing prices May 31 of each company. But investors reacted coldly to the deal, based at least in part on a downdraft in the stock market as a whole. Therefore, USA Interactive reported on June 5 that while it still wants to go forward with its plans, the process may take months or longer. USA Interactives chairman and chief executive, Barry Diller, said in a conference call with analysts that he had no intention of boosting his bid. SOURCE: Dallas Morning News