Google has started rolling out a tool that lists airline rates within their search results. The results link directly to their airlines’ websites rather than online travel agency websites like Kayak, Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, Priceline, etc.

Expedia has successfully spun off TripAdvisor.com as its own public company. TripAdvisor.com is currently trading on the stock market with the ticker symbol TRIP. Currently TripAdvisor has a market cap of about $4 billion.

Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) has acquired eLong, Inc. from Renren Inc. (NYSE:RENN). Expedia bought eLong for approximately $72.4 million ($23 per ADS). Expedia is the largest online travel company and Renren is a leading social networking company in China.

Tencent Holdings Ltd (HKG:0700) and Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) have invested $125.6 million into online Chinese travel service website eLong.com. Tencent put in $84.4 million for a 16% stake and Expedia put in $41.2 million to increase their stake to 56%.

Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) has announced today that they plan to spin off TripAdvisor.com off into a separate public company. The board has already signed off on the spin-off, but the deal is still pending based on a shareholder vote.

Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) has acquired Mobiata, a mobile application company based in Ann Arbor, Michigan founded by Ben Kazez. Mobiata had created the best selling mobile travel application on the App Store called FlightTrack. Mobiata’s FlightTrack was ranked a top 5 best selling travel application for 18 months straight. Mobiata’s revenues for this year is expected to hit $2 million.