Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking Holdings, has built a $170B travel empire that includes brands like http://Booking.com, Priceline, Kayak, and OpenTable. Glenn shares insights into how Booking has grown into a global powerhouse, weathering challenges like tsunamis, wars, 9/11, and the COVID-19 pandemic. We dive into the strategy behind the transformative acquisition of http://Booking.com, which now drives 90% of the company’s revenue, and the key lessons Glenn has learned about M&A success. Glenn also discusses how AI could revolutionize travel, from automating customer service to creating seamless traveler-first experiences.

(00:00 ) Intro

(01:37 ) Overview of Booking Holdings

(02:31 ) Early Days of Priceline and Joining the Company

(03:33 ) Dot-Com Boom and Financial Challenges

(07:28 ) Travel Industry Resilience

(07:47 ) Cultural and Economic Factors in Travel

(09:17 ) Stock Splits and Employee Incentives

(13:34 ) Acquisition of Booking.com and Active Hotels

(24:20 ) Growth and Integration of Acquired Companies

(29:11 ) Artificial Intelligence in Travel

(30:57 ) Future of Travel and AI Integration

(38:54 ) The Greatest Acquirers in History

(39:16 ) Teamwork in Business Acquisitions

(40:48 ) Challenges in M&A and Regulatory Hurdles

(41:49 ) Patterns in Successful and Failed Deals

(46:06 ) Cultural Alignment in Mergers

(50:31 ) Brand Management and Integration

(54:14 ) Regulatory Environment and Smart Regulations

(01:00:11 ) Post-COVID Business Travel Trends

(01:08:24 ) Leadership Through Crises

(01:15:33 ) Technological Advancements in Travel

Executive Producer: Rashad Assir

Producer: Leah Clapper

Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky

Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA

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About the Show

Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.