Priceline.com

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Priceline.com (NASDAQ: PCLN) is a website devoted to helping users obtain discount rates for travel-related items such as airline tickets and hotel stays. It is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, United States. Priceline is the brainchild of digital of founding Chief Operating Officer Jesse Fink and entrepreneur Jay Walker; the company's origins were closely tied with Walker's company Walker Digital. Hong Kong company Hutchison Whampoa now owns a significant porstion of Priceline's stock.^{[citation needed]}

It first gained prominence for its Name Your Own Price system, where travelers would name their price for airline tickets, hotel rooms, and car rentals. The price would be compared to undisclosed prices in the Priceline database, with the purchaser knowing the location and name of the rental car company, airline, or hotel only after the purchase had gone through, with no rights to cancel. Priceline's cut of the proceeds was the difference between the price an individual named and the price charged by the service establishment. More recently, it has moved to a more traditional model where travelers are presented prices while not being told the name of the establishment. Travelers can still choose to name their price but the number of participants in that program has significantly diminished.

Priceline.com also experimented with selling gasoline and groceries under the Name Your Own Price model in 2000, at the height of the dot-com bubble, through a partially owned affiliate, WebHouse Club. Priceline also got into the online auction business with Priceline Yard Sales, where individuals would use the Priceline system to haggle for various second hand items and trade them in person. Priceline also sold long distance telephone service and automobiles under the Name Your Own Price model. All of these experiments were terminated in 2002. Another experiment, the Name Your Own Rate system for home loans, continues under a license with EverBank.

For years, Priceline's official spokesperson was William Shatner, who agreed to do the spots for free in exchange for stock in the company. The arrangement turned out to be quite profitable for Shatner, who sold much of the stock shortly before its value plummeted in the dot-com bust. An early ad campaign featuring Shatner had him belt out popular songs in spoken word, in the style of his album, The Transformed Man. He was "replaced" in 2004 by his Star Trek co-star, Leonard Nimoy. Shatner still appeared in spots for Priceline, running into Nimoy as his replacement. That campaign is now over; Shatner has returned to his place as Priceline's only spokesman.

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