undefined | Better HN

0 pointsgorbypark1y ago0 comments

Looking into it further, it seems booking.com is only "sort of European". Booking.com (headquartered in Amsterdam) is actually owned by Booking Holdings (an American company), which seems to have originated as Priceline, which then bought booking.com and renamed/restructured itself into Booking Holdings and owns Priceline, kayak, booking.com, Agoda and a bunch of other airline/hotel aggregators.

0 comments

Rinzler891y ago

That goes for a lot of companies operating out of NL though.

They're there mostly for tax and stock issuing reason, but tend to be majority owned and managed by some US VC/PE/investment group or other kinds of foreign entities who need a EU HQ.

It's what makes the NL jobs (and housing) market so hot.

gorbyparkOP1y ago

I think in this case booking.com was founded in Amsterdam and were purchased by an American company at some point and they aren't there just for tax reasons. I guess it is possible it is the reason they stay there, though!

moi23881y ago

No this happens a lot. The only reason is tax benefits. They do need an office with alike 10 employees and a flower in it though (to ensure there are actually people there lol), but that’s about it.

So they either stay in NL, or do some sandwich with London or Dublin. It helps that the main Dutch party VVD is completely corrupt and only in there to enrich themselves.

3 more replies

xescure1y ago

It was not founded in Amsterdam, but rather in Enschede by a student at the University of Twente.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse