 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Travel |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | Edinburgh, Scotland , United Kingdom |
Key people |
|
| Revenue | £261 million (2016) [1] |
Number of employees | 1,200+ (2024) [2] |
| Parent | Trip.com Group |
| Website | skyscanner.net |
Skyscanner Ltd. is a British search aggregator and travel agency based in Edinburgh, Scotland and operating since 2003.
The company was formed by three information technology professionals. [3] The Edinburgh office was opened in 2004. [4]
In 2009, the year after SEP invested in the business, Skyscanner reported its first profit. [5]
In 2011, Skyscanner acquired Zoombu. [6] Skyscanner opened an office in Singapore in September 2011, which is headquarters for its Asia-Pacific operations. [7] In 2012, a Beijing office was added, as Skyscanner began a partnership with Baidu, China's largest search engine. [8]
By 2013, the company employed over 180 people. [9] In February 2013, Skyscanner announced plans to open a United States base in Miami. [9] In October 2013, Sequoia Capital purchased an interest in Skyscanner that valued the company at $800 million. [10] In June 2014, Skyscanner acquired Youbibi, a travel search engine company based in Shenzhen, China. [11]
By February 2015, the company employed 600 people, double the employment of 18 months earlier. [12]
In January 2016, the company raised $192 million based on a $1.6 billion valuation for the company. [13]
In November 2016, a Chinese company Trip.com Group (formerly Ctrip) bought Skyscanner for $1.75 billion. [14] Following the sale to Ctrip, Skyscanner's largest shareholder, SEP, completed its exit from the business. [15]
In 2017, Ctrip bought the Trip.com domain and launched Trip.com. The original platform became a subsidiary of Skyscanner. [16]
In 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the company announced that it would lay off 300 employees (20% of its staff). It was likely to close two offices in Budapest, Hungary and Sofia, Bulgaria. [17]
