Travel website owner Priceline Group Inc will purchase restaurant reservation website operator OpenTable Inc for $2.6 billion, aiming to broaden its services outside the increasingly competitive online travel industry.Priceline's offer of $103 per share for the owner of OpenTable.com represents a premium of 46 percent to OpenTable's Thursday close.OpenTable's shares inched past the offer price to trade as high as $104.19 on the Nasdaq, suggesting that some investors expect a higher bid.Priceline's shares were down 1.6 percent at $1,205.50.
OpenTable, Inc. (OpenTable) provides solution that forms an online network connecting reservation-taking restaurants and people who dine at those restaurants. Shares of OPEN traded higher by 48.35% or $34.05/share to $104.48. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $59.65 and as high as $87.48. On average, 636345 shares of OPEN exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 11039738.
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