US online restaurant reservation service fetches $2.6bn

Internet travel website Priceline announced plans Friday to buy Open Table, a US restaurant reservation system,
for 2.6 billion dollars, dpa reported.
Priceline, which has focused primarily on the travel market, will pay
103 dollars per share for OpenTable, 46 per cent above the company's
Thursday closing price.
OpenTable, founded in 1998, is available throughout the United States
and operates in Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico and Britain.
Priceline chief executive Darren Huston said the company looks
forward to helping OpenTable "accelerate their global expansion."
More than 31,000 restaurants already are in the OpenTable network.
The company says every month diners reserve 15 million seats in those
restaurants.
The service enables diners to see which restaurants have available
tables and provides "verified" diner reviews in addition to booking
reservations.