Kayak now says its chances of executing an IPO are about 50%.
Kayak filed its first registration statement in November 2010, and in its sixth amendment today, the company reduced its chances of carrying out an IPO to 50%.
The likelihood that Kayak will be involved in a strategic sale was pegged at 20% and a scenario where Kayak would remain a private company was given a 30% chance.
Kayak attributed the reduction in its self-assessment of its IPO possibilities to "various uncertainties surrounding our IPO..."
After all, Google's acquisition of ITA Software and the probability that Google will introduce a competing flight metasearch product still looms large.
Kayak's latest estimate of its IPO chances, while publicized today, was actually calculated as of April 30, 2011, in connection with its granting of options on June 7, 2011.
So Kayak at this moment may believe that its IPO chances are further reduced, increased or the same.
The previous estimates, publicized in late May 2011, were based on calculations made by Jan. 31, 2011. At that juncture, Kayak believed it had an 85% chance of an IPO, and that the possibilities of a strategic sale or remaining a private company were 10% and 5%, respectively.
So the IPO challenges Kayak faces has the company facing a quandry about how it will finance future growth and international expansion.
The company undoubtedly would be putting out feelers about a strategic sale or perhaps a private equity infusion of funds, among the options.
In Kayak's registration statement amendment Aug. 12, the company released its first half 2011 financial results.
The travel metasearch company posted a net loss of $3.1 million, compared with a $2.5 million profit during the first six months of 2010. The profit plunge was attributed to a $7.9 million increase in noncash charges.
As reported in May, among the noncash charges, Kayak took a $15 million impairment charge in the first quarter of 2011 as it phased out the SideStep URL and brand, and migrated traffic to Kayak.com.
Kayak's revenue in the first half of 2011 increased 36% to $109.4 million. Pushing the revenue jump was a 49% increase in queries tied largely to "our investment in marketing activities, the acquisition of swoodoo in May 2010 and checkfelix.com in April 2011, and our partnership with Bing Travel which began in March 2011," Kayak says.
On the marketing front, Kayak says it spent $31 million on brand advertising such as TV ads and billboards in the first six months of 2011. That compares with the $43.7 million Kayak spent on brand advertising for all of 2010.
With the Bing Travel partnership, Kayak now powers Bing Travel's flight search.
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