International expansion costly for Expedia

Due to international expansion and technology investment, Expedia profits shrink. 

Hotel revenues, its largest business, were up 16%. Advertising and media, second-largest, rose 23%. 

The dispute with American Airlines dispute hurt its air business, which came in third, but was only up 6%.

American Airlines are again on Expedia (as of April 4).

International expansion in the airlines business continues

International expansion in the airlines business continues. This time, it is the SkyMiles partners adding transatlantic flights. Why not if you can sell business class tickets for $5-9,000?

Here is what PRNewswire reported on March 25, 2011

 -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and the Air France-KLM Group (OTC: AFLYY) kick off a major international expansion this week with new flights connecting Florida with three major European cities: London, Paris and Amsterdam.

Delta will launch daily new nonstop service between Miami

 and London

's Heathrow Airport on March 26. On March 27, KLM begins new nonstop flights between Miami and its hub in Amsterdam four days weekly. And on June 11, Air France will inaugurate new nonstop service between Orlando and its Paris hub three days weekly.

The airlines will operate the new Florida flights under their industry-leading trans-Atlantic joint venture, an agreement, which also includes Alitalia, that allows the partners to coordinate flights and share costs and revenues of the service. 

In conjunction with its new service between Miami and London, Delta is also adding new nonstop service between Miami and Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa. Those flights, operated by Delta Connection carrier Comair, begin March 26 and will provide convenient connecting service for Florida customers traveling to London-Heathrow.

International expansion at consulting firm

International expansion may be key to the future of this consulting firm according to Zack's Investment Research. Here is what they have to say:

We maintain our long-term Neutral rating on Baltimore, Maryland-based FTI Consulting Inc. due to the absence of any significant driving factor in the stock. ... impressed with FTI Consulting’s one brand strategy as well as international expansion, lackluster performance in Corporate Finance and Restructuring segments and depressed margins will remain a haul.

... the company plans to bring all its acquired firms under one brand i.e. FTI Consulting by November 2011. FTI Consulting has acquired more than 25 companies over the last five years.

The company’s has also been aggressive in international expansion. During March 2011, the company announced its plans to acquire the majority of LECG Corporation’s remaining European operations. FTI Consulting intends to strengthen its already sound advisory team in U.K. and Europe via this acquisition.

The company expects to add a billion dollars in revenue over the next four years through growth and acquisitions, most of which will be from Europe, Asia and Latin America. 

International expansion of real-time airline flight information service system

If you are interested in international expansion, you may run into this company sooner or later:

Flyte Systems, a provider of airport travel information displays and digital signage content for the hospitality industry, convention centers and related businesses, announced the international expansion of its real-time airline flight information service system. The expansion will begin with hotels in South America and the Caribbean.

Flyte Systems offers a suite of products that serve the traveling public: FlyteBoard, FlytePass, FlyteChannel, FlyteTouch and FlytePad.

• FlyteBoard is a wall-, floor- or ceiling-mounted, high-definition flat panel screen for lobbies, restaurants, bars and other public areas, displaying flight information for one or more airports. 
• FlytePass combines FlyteTouch with free, secure boarding pass printing and can be provided as a stand alone or packaged in an optional all-wood kiosk or integrated metal kiosk, to match hotel décor. 
• FlyteChannel permits guests to view live airport flight information from their in-room television.
• FlyteTouch enables individual guests to search flight information using an interactive touch screen that displays real-time flight arrivals and departures for one or more airports.
• FlytePad is a mobile-ready service that delivers real-time airline information via the iPad, enabling hotel staff to provide guests with airline information anywhere and anytime.

We welcome its international expansion and think its system is a real convenience. 

Famosa toy company focuses on international expansion

International expansion is one of the strategic priorities of Famosa. It is already present in more than 50 countries, although its own organization operates only in Portugal, France, Italy, and Mexico. These and other key markets mean approximately half of its revenues.

According to Key4Communications, its strategic priority is to grow outside Spain without neglecting its leadership in the local market.

The firm has more than 500 people in several countries. Products manufacturing is based in China, as well as in Alacant and Monterrey (México) factories. Headquarters are in Madrid. 

Famosa sells two kinds of licensed products: own development, manufacture, and distribution of such brands as Ferrari, in the Feber line, or novelties such as The jungle on wheels, of Disney (which will launch in May); also, manufacture of products distributed by third parties with license, such as the Disney Phineas & Ferb line.

Online sales are not yet significant for the toy industry, but will continue to grow medium term. 

Can Vevo succeed at international expansion?

Can Vevo succeed at international expansion?

Vevo is getting ready to expand to the U.K. within the next few weeks, according to a Guardian report. Vevo CEO Rio Caraeff told the audience of the Abu Dhabi Media Summit that the major label-backed music video platform is “planning to launch in the U.K. imminently,” and the paper quotes unnamed sources saying that a launch could come before the end of March.

The music video venture plans to expand to the Middle East and North Africa in the next few months, which can be attributed to he United Arab Emirates-based Abu Dhabi Media Company’s co-ownership of Vevo. Further expansion into Europe, Brazil and Australia is planned for the second half of this year or later.

Those steps are a big deal for Vevo, but they also raise questions a number of questions: Why can the venture pull off what Netflix, Hulu and other online video services haven’t been able to? Hulu in particular has been talking for years about international expansion, but no signs point to any imminent move beyond the U.S. market. Netflix started its international expansion last year by opening shop in Canada, but a potential move towards Europe also seems to be taking its time.

The main reason Vevo can expand more aggressively is content rights. The two other co-owners of the venture are Sony Music and Universal, and both major labels own the international rights to the music videos shown on Vevo. That’s very different from Hulu for example, despite the fact that it is also owned by major media entities. Hulu’s owners, which include NBC, Disney and Fox, license their content to TV networks in foreign markets — and those networks don’t want to see competition for the same content online.

However, Vevo’s international expansion won’t come without stumbling blocks. One of the issues the platform will have to deal with are performing rights organizations, which license the rights to the compositions for songs featured in music videos.

Vevo’s partner, YouTube, has been successful at striking deals with some European performing rights organizations, but others are playing hardball. Germany’s rights group GEMA has pressured YouTube to block hundreds of music videos for German visitors, and both parties are currently engaged in legal proceedings about licensing fees. Vevo likely won’t come to countries like Germany until those issues are resolved.

Just-Eat getting ready for aggressive international expansion

Just-Eat secures funding for international expansion. 

London based Just-Eat, an online take-out ordering service, has closed a financing round of $48m co-led by two leading VCs, Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures, with existing investor Index Ventures also participating. Although now based out of London it was originally founded in Denmark.

Just-Eat now plans an international roll-out. Right now it’s in ten countries and three continents and working with 15,000 restaurants. The company claims to generate over $500m of revenue for local businesses in 2011 by linking up normal restaurant POS and ordering systems with an aggregator site which takes orders for takeaway food. 

Read more: