Accommodation rental specialist giant HomeAway has moved quickly to deny suggestions that it will list on the public markets.
Expedia chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi told a conference in San Francisco yesterday that he expected the venture-backed company to go to the financial markets in 2010 or 2011.
The well-timed and very public statement came out of the blue in terms of adding a new name to the list of those travel and technology outfits expected to launch IPOs this year.
Nevertheless, HomeAway hit back quickly today with a short statement following Khosrowshahi's comments.
An official says:
“We are extremely pleased with the success we have experienced to date, but there are no plans for an IPO at this moment in time.”
Those with a keen eye for language and sentence formation will note the "at this moment in time" element to the statement. The statement also refers to an IPO, rather than simply "going public".
Khosrowshahi's prediction may have been aimed at HomeAway for wider reasons - to draw attention to the company's structure and financial position amid ongoing speculation that one of the big OTAs will take a look at some of the bigger players in the accommodation rental sector later this year in order to tap into the growing marketplace.