MSN Breaks Up With Expedia; Marries Orbitz Instead

You know Expedia, right? They began life as a Microsoft company. Yesterday they were fired from MSN. Get out, pack your bags and get out! Beginning yesterday, MSN Travel is now hitched with Orbitz. This change affects customers in the U.S. and in the U.K.

Kyle Peterson from Forbes notes that a Microsoft spokesman said the company decided to switch to Orbitz because it preferred the travel site's features and customer service.

The monthly traffic that will now be diverted in the air to Orbitz is in the range of 3.5 million unique visitors per month. When I check Expedia's status board, all lines say "Delayed". This is a big hit for Expedia.

In my opinion Expedia's usability is much better than Orbitz. Was this deal completed for the reasons listed above or really for financial reasons?

Last month we took a look at Expedia's traffic using Google Trends. Here's a chart of Expedia vs. Orbitz. Currently Expedia shows 2x more traffic than Orbitz. This MSN Travel deal could easily bring both companies together in terms of site traffic.