Hotel Online Special Report 
Cahners and Expedia, Inc. Settle Hotel Directory Suit NEW YORK, and REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 23, 2000 – Expedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPE) and Cahners Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc., today announced that they have reached a mutually agreeable settlement of the suit that Reed Elsevier Inc. filed against Expedia, Inc. and Microsoft Corporation over a 1998 contract relating to the Expedia® hotel directory.
According to the settlement, the parties agreed to dissolve their relationship, with Expedia® assuming the advertising contracts that Cahners had originated for the Expedia Hotel Directory. It is anticipated that advertisers will be unaffected by dissolution of the relationship.
George Hundley, executive vice president of Cahners Travel Group, said, “This settlement allows both sides to focus on serving the needs of their customers instead of on litigation.”
“We are pleased to settle this suit, especially without protracted litigation,” said Mark Britton, vice president and general counsel for Expedia, Inc., owner of the Expedia.com travel Web site. Expedia, Inc. operates Expedia.com, a leading travel site in the United States with localized versions for travelers in Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. To help customers travel right, Expedia.com provides the best combination of air, car and hotel booking, vacation package and cruise offers, destination information and point-to-point mapping.
Cahners Business Information, a member of the Reed Elsevier plc Group (NYSE: RUK; ENL), is the leading U.S. provider of business information to 16 vertical markets, including travel, entertainment, manufacturing and retail. Cahners’ rich content portfolio encompasses 140 Web sites as well as Variety, Publishers Weekly, Interior Design and 125 other market-leading business-to-business magazines. Cahners Travel Group is the definitive marketing partner and source of news and analysis for the travel industry, in print and online. It publishes Hotel Travel Index, Official Cruise Guide, Official Hotel Guide, Travel Weekly, TravelAge West, the Weissmann Travel Reports and many other authoritative guides, periodicals and Web sites.
Contact: Margaret Pantridge 617-558-4353 [email protected] http://www.cahners.com http://expedia.com Also See: John Mayewski and John R. Spina Named VP and GM at Hollywood Park, Inc. Casinos / Oct 1999 Hollywood Park Board of Directors Retains Existing C Corp. Structure asVehicle for Growth / July 1998