If Kayak can pull off its proposed initial public offering, its executive officers and directors would still control the company.
That much is evident from Kayak's March 8, 2011, S-1/A filing, a precursor to an IPO, which details creation of a dual stock class structure of Class A and Class B common stock.
"... Because of this dual class structure, our executive officers, directors and their affiliated entities will continue to be able to control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval even if they come to own less than 50% of the outstanding shares of our common stock," Kayak says.
For all of you Kayakologists out there, there are a number of interesting changes in the document when compared with Kayak's Feb. 10, 2011, prospectus.
- Kayak added the following sentence about its use of ITA Software's QPX airfare shopping and pricing solution, which is the subject of much debate given Google's proposed acquisition of ITA. "In addition, we believe that alternative faring engine solutions currently do not provide the level of comprehensiveness and accuracy that ITA's software provides," Kayak says. Continued access to QPX under Google is a cloud that hangs over the IPO, although chief technology officer Paul English says Kayak will be able to compete as Google further enmeshes itself in travel. Kayak's contract with ITA Software runs through 2013.
- Kayak revealed that it spent $39 million on all of that "Kayak Search One and Done" brand advertising, including billboards and TV, in 2010. (As with several entries, Kayak previously disclosed figures for the first nine months of 2010 and now has updated them to cover the entire year.) All of those Mandy ads don't come cheap.
- That advertising, however, seems to be providing more brand awareness. If downloads of Kayak's apps are any measure of the success of the advertising campaign, Kayak says its mobile downloads numbered more than 1 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, and that was a whopping 344% increase over the fourth quarter of 2009. [Kayak's TV and billboard advertising began in late 2009.]
- Queries from Kayak's mobile apps accounted for 8.2% of its total queries in 2010, although Kayak estimates that mobile was responsible for less than 1% of its total 2010 revenue. Kayak expects that mobile will be big and it intends to continue to invest in mobile apps.
- Some 7.7% of Kayak's total 2010 revenue came from Google, although for the first nine months of the year that figure was a tad higher at 8.1%.
- Kayak revealed it got 7% of its query volume in 2010 from general search engines [like Google, Yahoo and Bing] and 73% came from direct visits to Kayak websites. Through the first nine months of 2010, those figures were 8% and 72%, respectively.
- Kayak's net income for 2010 was $8.03 million, a 16.2% increase from 2009, on nearly $170.7 million in revenue, a 51.4% jump.