Priceline 2011 Annual Report Download - page 10

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9
In addition, our strategy involves rapid expansion into regions around the world, including Asia, South America and
elsewhere, many of which have different legislation, regulatory environments and tax laws. Compliance with foreign legal,
regulatory or tax requirements will place demands on our time and resources, and we may nonetheless experience unforeseen
and potentially adverse legal, regulatory or tax consequences, which may have an adverse effect on our business.
Seasonality
A meaningful amount of retail gross bookings are generated early in the year, as customers plan and reserve their
spring and summer vacations in Europe and North America. However, we do not recognize associated revenue until future
quarters when the travel occurs. From a cost perspective, we expense the substantial majority of our advertising activities as
they are incurred, which is typically in the quarter in which bookings are generated. As a result, we typically experience our
highest levels of profitability in the second and third quarters of the year, which is when we experience the highest levels of
booking and travel consumption for the year for our North American and European businesses. However, we experience the
highest levels of booking and travel consumption for our Asia-Pacific and South American businesses in the first and fourth
quarters. Therefore, if these businesses continue to grow faster than our North American and European businesses, our
operating results for the first and fourth quarters of the year may become more significant over time as a percentage of full year
operating results. In addition, Our Name Your Own Price® services are generally non-refundable in nature, and accordingly, we
recognize travel revenue at the time a booking is generated. However, we recognize revenue generated from our retail hotel
services, including Booking.com and Agoda, at the time that the customer checks out of the hotel. Therefore, if our retail hotel
business continues to grow, we expect our quarterly results to become increasingly impacted by these seasonal factors.
Employees
As of January 31, 2012, we employed approximately 5,000 full-time employees, of which approximately 1,000 are
based in the United States and approximately 4,000 are based in our international offices. We also retain independent
contractors to support our customer service, website content translation and system support functions.
We have never had a work stoppage and our employees are not represented by any collective bargaining unit. We
consider our relations with our employees to be good. Our future success will depend, in part, on our ability to continue to
attract, integrate, retain and motivate highly qualified technical and managerial personnel, for whom competition is intense.
See "Risk Factors - We rely on the performance of highly skilled personnel and, if we are unable to retain or motivate key
personnel or hire, retain and motivate qualified personnel, our business would be harmed."
The Priceline Group Websites
We maintain websites with the addresses www.booking.com, www.priceline.com, www.agoda.com and
www.rentalcars.com, among others. We are not including the information contained on our websites as a part of, or
incorporating it by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We make available free of charge through the
www.priceline.com website our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on
Form 8-K, and amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or
furnish such material to, the SEC. These reports and other information are also available, free of charge, at www.sec.gov.
Alternatively, the public may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F
Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling
the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. In addition, the priceline.com Incorporated Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is available
through the www.priceline.com website and any amendments to or waivers from the Code of Ethics will be disclosed on that
website.