Priceline 2010 Annual Report Download - page 75

1
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Annual Report on Form 10-K and the documents incorporated herein by reference contain forward-
looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to
certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including the Risk Factors identified in Item
1A of this Annual Report; therefore, actual results may differ materially from those expressed, implied or forecasted
in any such forward-looking statements.
Expressions of future goals, expectations and similar expressions including, without limitation, “may,”
“will,” “should,” “could,” “expects,” “does not currently expect,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “believes,”
“estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “targets,” or “continue,” reflecting something other than historical fact are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. Our actual results could differ materially from those described in
the forward-looking statements for various reasons including the risks we face which are more fully described in
Item 1A, “Risk Factors.” Unless required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-
looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. However, readers should
carefully review the reports and documents we file or furnish from time to time with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (the “SEC” or the “Commission”), particularly our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports
on Form 8-K.
PART I
Item 1. Business
General
Priceline.com Incorporated is a leading online travel company that offers our customers hotel room
reservations at over 150,000 hotels worldwide through the Booking.com, priceline.com and Agoda brands. In the
United States, we also offer our customers car rental reservations, airline tickets, vacation packages, cruises and
destination services. We refer to Booking.com, priceline.com, Agoda and TravelJigsaw collectively as the
“Priceline Group,” the “Company,” “we,” “our” or “us.”
We launched our business in the United States in 1998 under the priceline.com brand and have since
expanded our operations to include, among others, the Booking.com and Agoda hotel reservation businesses and the
TravelJigsaw rental car reservation business. Our principal goal is to be the leading worldwide online hotel
reservation service. Our business is driven primarily by international results. During the year ended December 31,
2010, our international business – the significant majority of which is currently generated by Booking.com –
represented approximately 69% of our gross bookings (an operating and statistical metric referring to the total dollar
value, generally inclusive of all taxes and fees, of all travel services purchased by our customers), and approximately
82% of our consolidated operating income. Given that the business of our international operations is primarily
comprised of Booking.com hotel reservation services, commissions earned in connection with the reservation of
hotel room nights represents a substantial majority of our gross profit.
Because our domestic services include merchant Name Your Own Price® travel services, which are
reported on a “gross” basis, while both our domestic and international retail price-disclosed travel services are
primarily recorded on a “net” basis, revenue increases and decreases are impacted by changes in the mix of our
revenues between Name Your Own Price® and retail travel services and, consequently, gross profit has become an
increasingly important measure of evaluating growth in our business. At present, we derive substantially all of our
gross profit from the following sources: