Few companies in any industry have the ambition of tech behemoth Google (GOOG 0.74%) (GOOGL 0.55%). The tech giant has successfully springboarded from the world's largest search engine to also lead in disparate areas of technologies like smartglass software, driverless cars, and mobile software. Google's eyes are rarely bigger than its stomach, which is exactly what should have investors in online travel leaders Priceline.com (BKNG -0.47%), Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW), and Expedia (EXPE 0.58%) worried..
Source: Google
It's long been thought that Google has had its eye on grabbing an increasingly large portion of the lucrative online travel revenue shared by Priceline.com, Orbitz Worldwide, and Expedia. And a number of recent moves on Google's part haven't exactly done much to assuage those concerns. However, I'm increasingly of the mind that Google's ultimate ambitions might not be as negative as Priceline, Orbitz, and Expedia investors think.
Leaving on a jet plane
Ultimately, the argument as to why Google should full-on enter the travel booking space is a business one. With tens of billions of dollars in the bank, Google can afford to do just about whatever it wants to. However, Google would incur an entirely new set of high costs if it chose to enter the travel booking and processing industry.
In the video below, tech and telecom specialist Andrew Tonner makes the case that Google might not be the threat that Priceline, Expedia, and Oribitz investors would have you think.
