Item 1A. Risk Factors

The following risk factors and other information included in this Annual Report should be carefully considered. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe are immaterial may also impair our business, results of operations or financial condition. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

Declines or disruptions in the travel industry could adversely affect our business and financial performance.

Our financial results and prospects are significantly dependent upon the sale of travel services, particularly leisure travel. Travel, including accommodation (including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, apartments, vacation rentals and other properties), rental car and airline ticket reservations, is dependent on discretionary spending levels. As a result, sales of travel services tend to decline during general economic downturns and recessions when consumers engage in less discretionary spending, are concerned about unemployment or inflation, have reduced access to credit or experience other concerns or effects that reduce their ability or willingness to travel. For example, the recent worldwide recession led to a weakening in the fundamental demand for our travel reservation services and an increase in the number of consumers who canceled existing travel reservations with us. Also during the recession, the accommodation industry experienced a significant decrease in occupancy rates and average daily rates ("ADRs"). While lower occupancy rates have historically resulted in accommodation providers increasing their distribution of accommodation reservations through third-party intermediaries such as us, our remuneration for accommodation reservation transactions changes proportionately with price, and therefore, lower ADRs generally have a negative effect on our accommodation reservation business and a negative effect on our gross profit. Further, during periods of higher occupancy rates, accommodation providers may decrease their distribution of accommodation reservations through third-party intermediaries like us, in particular through our discount services such as priceline.com's Name Your Own Price® and Express Deals®.

Many governments around the world, including the U.S. government and certain European governments, are operating at large financial deficits, resulting in high levels of sovereign debt in such countries. Greece, Ireland, Portugal and certain other European Union countries with high levels of sovereign debt at times have had difficulty refinancing their debt. Failure to reach political consensus regarding workable solutions to these issues has resulted in a high level of uncertainty regarding the future economic outlook. This uncertainty, as well as concern over governmental austerity measures including higher taxes and reduced government spending, could impair consumer spending and adversely affect travel demand. Greece's newly elected government, which campaigned against austerity measures, may not be able to reach an acceptable solution to the country's debt crisis with the European Union. This may increase the likelihood that Greece, and in turn other countries, could exit the European Union, which could lead to added economic uncertainty and further devaluation or eventual abandonment of the Euro common currency. At times, we have experienced volatility in transaction growth rates and weaker trends in hotel ADRs across many regions of the world, particularly in those European countries that appear to be most affected by economic uncertainties. We believe that these business trends are likely impacted by weak economic conditions and sovereign debt concerns. Disruptions in the economies of such countries could cause, contribute to or be indicative of deteriorating macro-economic conditions.

The uncertainty of macro-economic factors and their impact on consumer behavior, which may differ across regions, makes it more difficult to forecast industry and consumer trends and the timing and degree of their impact on our markets and business, which in turn could adversely affect our ability to effectively manage our business and adversely affect our results of operations.

In addition, other unforeseen events beyond our control, such as oil prices, terrorist attacks, unusual weather patterns, natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, floods and volcanic eruptions, travel related health concerns including pandemics and epidemics such as Ebola, Influenza H1N1, avian bird flu and SARS, political instability, regional hostilities, imposition of taxes or surcharges by regulatory authorities or travel related accidents, can disrupt travel or otherwise result in declines in travel demand. Because these events or concerns are largely unpredictable, they can dramatically and suddenly affect travel behavior by consumers, and therefore demand for our services, which can adversely affect our business and results of operations. For example, in late 2012 Hurricane Sandy disrupted travel in the northeastern United States. In early 2011, Japan was struck by a major earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency. In October 2011, severe flooding in Thailand, a key market for our agoda.com business and the Asian business of Booking.com, negatively impacted booking volumes and cancellation rates in that market. In addition, Thailand recently experienced disruptive civil unrest, which negatively impacted booking volumes and cancellation rates in this market. In early 2010, Thailand also experienced civil unrest, which caused the temporary relocation of agoda.com's Thailand-based operations. Future natural disasters, health

concerns or civil or political unrest could further disrupt our business and operations and adversely affect our results of operations.

We face risks related to the growth rate and expansion of our international business.

We derive a substantial portion of our revenues, and have significant operations, outside the United States. Our international operations include the Netherlands-based accommodation reservation service Booking.com, the Asia-based accommodation reservation service agoda.com, the U.K.-based rental car reservation service rentalcars.com and, to a lesser extent, KAYAK's international meta-search services and OpenTable's international restaurant reservation business. Our international operations have achieved significant year-over-year growth in their gross bookings (an operating and statistical metric referring to the total dollar value, generally inclusive of all taxes and fees, of all travel services purchased by our customers). This growth rate, which has contributed significantly to our growth in consolidated revenue, gross profit and earnings per share, has declined, a trend we expect to continue as the absolute level of our gross bookings grows larger. Other factors may also slow the growth rates of our revenues derived from our international business, including, for example, worldwide economic conditions, any strengthening of the U.S. Dollar versus the Euro and other currencies, declines in ADRs, increases in cancellations, adverse changes in travel market conditions and the competitiveness of the market. A decline in the growth rates of our international businesses could have a negative impact on our future gross profit and earnings per share growth rates and, as a consequence, our stock price.

Our strategy involves continued rapid international expansion in regions throughout the world. Many of these regions have different customs, currencies, levels of consumer acceptance and use of the Internet for commerce, legislation, regulatory environments, tax laws and levels of political stability. International markets may have strong local competitors with an established brand and travel service provider or restaurant relationships that may make expansion in that market difficult and costly and take more time than anticipated. In addition, compliance with legal, regulatory or tax requirements in multiple jurisdictions places demands on our time and resources, and we may nonetheless experience unforeseen and potentially adverse legal, regulatory or tax consequences. In some markets such as China, legal and other regulatory requirements may prohibit or limit participation by foreign businesses, such as by making foreign ownership or management of Internet or travel-related businesses illegal or difficult, or may make direct participation in those markets uneconomic, which could make our entry into and expansion in those markets difficult or impossible, require that we work with a local partner or result in higher operating costs. If we are unsuccessful in rapidly expanding in new and existing markets and effectively managing that expansion, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Certain markets in which we operate that are in earlier stages of development have lower operating margins compared to more mature markets, which could have a negative impact on our overall margins as these markets increase in size over time. Also, we intend to continue to invest in adding accommodations available for reservation on our websites, including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels and vacation rentals. Vacation rentals generally consist of, among others, properties categorized as single-unit and multi-unit villas, apartments, "aparthotels" (which are apartments with a front desk and cleaning service) and chalets and are generally self-catered (i.e., include a kitchen), directly bookable properties. Many of the newer accommodations we add to our travel reservation services, especially in highly penetrated markets, may have fewer rooms, lower ADRs or higher credit risk and may appeal to a smaller subset of consumers (e.g., hostels and bed and breakfasts), and therefore may also negatively impact our margins. For example, because a vacation rental is typically either a single unit or a small collection of independent units, vacation rental properties represent more limited booking opportunities than non-vacation rental properties, which generally have more units to rent per property. Our non-hotel accommodations in general may be subject to increased seasonality due to local tourism seasons, weather or other factors. As we increase our non-hotel accommodation business, these different market characteristics could negatively impact our profit margins; and, to the extent these properties represent an increasing percentage of the properties added to our websites, our gross bookings growth rate and property growth rate will likely diverge over time (since each such property has fewer booking opportunities). As a result of the foregoing, as the percentage of non-hotel accommodations increases, the number of reservations per property will likely decrease. In addition, non-hotel accommodations, including vacation rentals, tend to be more seasonal in nature and may close during "off-season," which impacts our property counts quarter to quarter.

We believe that the increase in the number of accommodation providers that participate on our websites, and the corresponding access to accommodation room nights, has been a key driver of the growth of our accommodation reservation business. The growth in our accommodation bookings typically makes us an attractive source of consumer demand for our accommodation providers. However, accommodation providers may wish to limit the amount of business that flows through a single distribution channel. As a result, we may experience constraints on the number of accommodation room nights available to us, which could negatively impact our growth rate and results of operations.

The number of our employees worldwide has grown from less than 700 in the first quarter of 2007, to approximately 12,700 as of December 31, 2014, which growth is mostly comprised of hires by our international operations, including as a

result of our international acquisitions. We may not be able to hire, train, retain, motivate and manage required personnel, which may limit our growth, damage our reputation, negatively affect our financial performance, and otherwise harm our business. In addition, expansion increases the complexity of our business and places additional strain on our management, operations, technical performance, financial resources and internal financial control and reporting functions. Our current and planned personnel, systems, procedures and controls may not be adequate to support and effectively manage this growth and our future operations, especially as we employ personnel in multiple geographic locations around the world. We are subject to risks typical of international businesses, including differing economic conditions, differing customs, languages and consumer expectations, changes in political climate, differing tax structures and other regulations and restrictions, including labor laws and customs, and foreign exchange rate volatility.

Intense competition could reduce our market share and harm our financial performance.

We compete with both online and traditional travel reservation services. The market for the travel reservation services we offer is intensely competitive, and current and new competitors can launch new services at a relatively low cost. Some of our current and potential competitors, such as Google, Apple, Alibaba, Amazon and Facebook, have access to significantly greater and more diversified resources than we do, and they may be able to leverage other aspects of their businesses (e.g., search or mobile device businesses) to enable them to compete more effectively with us. For example, Google has entered various aspects of the online travel market through its acquisition in 2011 of ITA Software, Inc., a major flight information software company, its hotel meta-search service known as "Hotel Finder" (discussed below) and its license of hotel-booking software from Room 77.

We currently, or potentially may in the future, compete with a variety of companies, including:

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online travel reservation services such as Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotwire, Travelocity, eLong, Wotif, CarRentals.com and Venere, which are owned by Expedia; Orbitz.com, Cheaptickets, ebookers, HotelClub and RatesToGo, which are owned by Orbitz Worldwide (which has agreed to be acquired by Expedia); laterooms and asiarooms, which are owned by Tui Travel; Hotel Reservation Service and hotel.de, which are owned by Hotel Reservation Service; and AutoEurope, Car Trawler, Ctrip, MakeMyTrip, Webjet, Rakuten, Jalan, Hotel Urbano, ViajaNet, Submarino Viagens, Despegar/Decolar, 17u.com, Bookit.com, CheapOair, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and eDreams ODIGEO;

•	online accommodation search and/or reservation services, such as HomeAway and Airbnb, focused on vacation rental properties, including individually owned properties;

•	large online companies, including search, social networking and marketplace companies such as Google, Facebook, Alibaba, Amazon and Groupon;

•	traditional travel agencies, wholesalers and tour operators, many of which combine physical locations, telephone services and online services, such as Carlson Wagonlit, American Express, Thomas Cook and Tui Travel, as well as thousands of individual travel agencies around the world;

•	travel service providers such as accommodation providers, rental car companies and airlines, many of which have their own branded websites to which they drive business, including joint efforts by travel service providers such as Room Key, an online hotel reservation service owned by several major hotel companies;

•	online travel search and price comparison services (generally referred to as "meta-search" services), such as TripAdvisor, trivago (in which Expedia has acquired a majority ownership interest), Qunar, Skyscanner and HotelsCombined; and

•	online restaurant reservation services, such as TripAdvisor's LaFourchette and Yelp's SeatMe.

TripAdvisor, a leading travel research and review website, Google, the world's largest search engine, and other large, established companies with substantial resources and expertise in developing online commerce and facilitating Internet traffic have launched meta-search services and may create additional inroads into online travel, both in the United States and internationally. Meta-search services leverage their search technology to aggregate travel search results for the consumer's specific itinerary across travel service provider (e.g., accommodations, rental car companies or airlines), online travel agent ("OTA") and other travel websites and, in many instances, compete directly with us for customers. Meta-search services intend to appeal to consumers by showing broader travel search results than may be available through OTAs or other travel websites, which could lead to travel service providers or others gaining a larger share of search traffic. TripAdvisor has begun supporting its meta-search service with offline advertising, and trivago, a leading meta-search service in Europe, has been aggressively

advertising in the United States since 2013. Google offers "Hotel Finder", a meta-search service that Google has at times placed at or near the top of hotel-related search results. Through our KAYAK meta-search service, we compete directly with other meta-search services. KAYAK depends on access to information related to travel service pricing, schedules, availability and other related information from OTAs and travel service providers. To the extent OTAs or travel service providers do not provide such information to KAYAK, KAYAK's business and results of operations could be harmed.

Consumers may favor travel services offered by meta-search websites or search companies over OTAs, which could reduce traffic to our travel reservation websites, increase consumer awareness of our competitors' brands and websites and increase our advertising and other customer acquisition costs. To the extent any such consumer behavior leads to growth in our KAYAK meta-search business, such growth may not result in sufficient increases in profits from our KAYAK meta-search business to offset any related decrease in profits experienced by our OTA brands. Further, meta-search services may evolve into more traditional OTAs by offering consumers the ability to make travel reservations directly through their websites. For example, TripAdvisor facilitates hotel reservations on its transaction websites Tingo and Jetsetter and intends to allow consumers to make a reservation while staying on TripAdvisor through its "Instant Booking" offering. We currently do not participate in "Instant Booking" and therefore risk losing share of reservations sourced through TripAdvisor. Other meta-search providers may also offer direct booking services with travel service providers, which may lead to more consumers booking directly with a travel service provider rather than an OTA. To the extent consumers book travel services through a meta-search website or directly with a travel service provider after visiting a meta-search website or meta-search utility on a traditional search engine without using an OTA like us, or if meta-search services limit our participation within their search results, we may need to increase our advertising or other customer acquisition costs to maintain or grow our reservation bookings and our business, gross bookings and results of operations could be adversely affected.

As a result of our acquisition of OpenTable, we now compete or may in the future compete with other restaurant reservation providers, such as LaFourchette, a European restaurant reservation business owned by TripAdvisor, and Yelp's SeatMe service.

Travel service providers, including multi-national hotel chains, rental car companies and airlines with which we conduct business, compete with us in online channels to drive consumers to their own websites in lieu of third-party distributors such as us. Travel service providers may charge lower prices and, in some instances, offer advantages such as loyalty points or special discounts to members of closed user groups (such as loyalty program participants or customers with registered accounts), any of which could make their offerings more attractive to consumers than our services. Discounting may increase as competition authorities seek to allow increased pricing flexibility among providers of travel service reservations. We may need to offer similar advantages to maintain or grow our reservation bookings, which could adversely impact our profitability.

There has been a proliferation of new channels through which accommodation providers can offer reservations. For example, companies such as HomeAway and Airbnb offer services focused on providing vacation rental property owners, particularly individuals, an online place to list their accommodations where travelers can search and book such properties. Companies such as HotelTonight, Tingo and Hipmunk have developed new and differentiated offerings that endeavor to provide savings on accommodation reservations to consumers and that compete directly with us. Further, meta-search services may lower the cost for new companies to enter the market by providing a distribution channel without the cost of promoting the new entrant's brand to drive consumers directly to its website. If any of these services are successful in attracting consumers who would otherwise use our services, our business and results of operations would be harmed.

Competition in U.S. online travel remains intense and online travel companies are creating new promotions and consumer value features in an effort to gain competitive advantages. In particular, the competition to provide "opaque" accommodation reservation services to consumers, an area in which our priceline.com business has been a leader, has become more intense. For example, Expedia makes opaque accommodation room reservations available through its Hotwire brand and on its principal website under the name "Expedia Unpublished Rates" and has, we believe, supported this initiative with steeper discounts through lower margins. We believe these offerings, in particular "Expedia Unpublished Rates," have adversely impacted the market share and year-over-year growth rate for priceline.com's Name Your Own Price® opaque hotel reservation service, which has been experiencing a decline in room night reservations since 2011. These and other competitors could also launch opaque rental car services, which could negatively impact priceline.com's opaque Name Your Own Price® rental car reservation service. If Expedia or others are successful in growing their opaque reservation services, we may have less consumer demand for our opaque reservation services over time, and we would face more competition for access to the limited supply of discounted reservation rates. As a result of this increased competition, our share of the discount accommodation reservation market in the United States could further decrease, which could harm our business and results of operations. In addition, high hotel occupancy levels in the United States have had an adverse impact on our access to hotel rooms for our opaque hotel reservation services. Further, growth in discounted closed user group retail prices for hotel rooms lessens the

price difference for members of the closed user group between a retail hotel reservation and an opaque hotel reservation, which may lead to fewer consumers using our opaque hotel reservation services.

In addition, after entering into an exclusive, long-term strategic marketing agreement in August 2013, Expedia acquired Travelocity in January 2015. On February 12, 2015, Expedia announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Orbitz. To the extent these acquisitions enhance Expedia's ability to compete with us, in particular in the United States, which is Expedia's, Travelocity's and Orbitz's largest market, our market share and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates.

We conduct a substantial majority of our business outside the United States but we report our results in U.S. Dollars. As a result, we face exposure to adverse movements in currency exchange rates as the financial results of our international business are translated from local currency (principally the Euro and the British Pound Sterling) into U.S. Dollars. The U.S. Dollar significantly strengthened against the Euro during 2014, moving from an exchange rate of 1.38 U.S. Dollars per Euro as of January 1, 2014 to 1.21 U.S. Dollars per Euro as of December 31, 2014. The U.S. Dollar also strengthened significantly during this time frame as compared to many other currencies. As a result, our foreign currency denominated net assets, gross bookings, gross profit, operating expenses and net income have been negatively impacted as expressed in U.S. Dollars. For example, gross profit from our international businesses grew year-over-year on a local currency basis by approximately 32% for the three months ended December 31, 2014, but, as a result of the impact of changes in currency exchange rates, grew by 24.2% as reported in U.S. Dollars.

Certain European Union countries with high levels of sovereign debt have had difficulty at times refinancing their debt. Concern around devaluation or abandonment of the Euro common currency, or that sovereign default risk may become more widespread and could include the United States, has led to significant volatility in the exchange rate between the Euro, the British Pound Sterling, the U.S. Dollar and other currencies. The European Central Bank, in an effort to stimulate the European economy, recently launched a quantitative easing program to purchase public debt, which in turn has caused the Euro exchange rate to weaken compared to the U.S. Dollar.

Significant fluctuations in currency exchange rates can affect consumer travel behavior. For example, recent dramatic depreciation of the Russian Ruble has resulted in it becoming more expensive for Russians to travel to Europe and most other non-Ruble destinations. Consumers traveling from a country whose currency has weakened against other currencies may book lower ADR accommodations, choose to shorten or cancel their international travel plans or choose to travel domestically rather than internationally, any of which could adversely affect our gross bookings, revenues and results of operations, in particular when expressed in U.S. Dollars.

Additionally, foreign exchange rate fluctuations on transactions denominated in currencies other than the functional currency result in gains and losses that are reflected in our financial results.

The volatility in foreign exchange rates and their impact on consumer behavior, which may differ across regions, makes it more difficult to forecast industry and consumer trends and the timing and degree of their impact on our markets and business, which in turn could adversely affect our ability to effectively manage our business and adversely affect our results of operations.

We rely on online advertising channels to enhance our brand awareness and to generate a significant amount of traffic to our websites.

We believe that maintaining and expanding the Booking.com, priceline.com, KAYAK, agoda.com, rentalcars.com and OpenTable brands, along with our other owned brands, are important aspects of our efforts to attract and retain customers. Effective online advertising has been an important factor in our growth, and we believe it will continue to be important to our future success. As our competitors spend increasingly more on advertising, we are required to spend more in order to maintain our brand recognition and, in the case of online advertising, to maintain and grow traffic to our websites. In addition, we have invested considerable money and resources in the establishment and maintenance of our brands, and we will continue to invest resources in advertising, marketing and other brand building efforts to preserve and enhance consumer awareness of our brands. We may not be able to successfully maintain or enhance consumer awareness and acceptance of our brands, and, even if we are successful in our branding efforts, such efforts may not be cost-effective. If we are unable to maintain or enhance consumer awareness and acceptance of our brands in a cost-effective manner, our business, market share and results of operations would be materially adversely affected.

Our online advertising efficiency, expressed as online advertising as a percentage of gross profit, is impacted by a number of factors that are subject to variability and that are, in some cases, outside of our control, including ADRs, costs per click, cancellation rates, foreign exchange rates, our ability to convert paid traffic to booking customers and the extent to which consumers come directly to our websites or mobile apps for bookings. For example, competition for desired rankings in search results and/or a decline in ad clicks by consumers, could increase our costs-per-click and reduce our online advertising efficiency. We use third party websites, including online search engines (primarily Google), meta-search and travel research services, and affiliate marketing as primary means of generating traffic to our websites. Our online advertising expense has increased significantly in recent years, a trend we expect to continue. In addition, from 2011 to 2013 our online advertising grew faster than our gross profit due to (1) year-over-year declines in online advertising returns on investment and (2) brand mix within The Priceline Group as our international brands grew faster than our U.S. brands and spent a higher percentage of gross profit on online advertising. In 2014, these trends continued, but were more than offset by the inclusion of KAYAK and OpenTable because they spend a lower percentage of gross profit on online advertising than our other brands. Also, our consolidated results exclude intercompany advertising by our brands on KAYAK since our acquisition of KAYAK in May 2013. Any reduction in our online advertising efficiency could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations, whether through reduced gross profit or gross profit growth or through advertising expenses increasing faster than gross profit and thereby reducing margins and earnings growth.

We believe that a number of factors could cause consumers to engage in increased shopping behavior before making a travel purchase than they engaged in previously. Increased shopping behavior reduces our online advertising efficiency and effectiveness because traffic becomes less likely to result in a purchase on our website, and such traffic is more likely to be obtained through paid online advertising channels than through free direct channels. Further, consumers may favor travel services offered by search companies or meta-search sites over OTAs, which could reduce traffic to our travel reservation websites, increase consumer awareness of our competitors' brands and websites, increase our advertising and other customer acquisition costs and adversely affect our business, margins and results of operations. To the extent any such increased shopping behavior leads to growth in our KAYAK meta-search business, such growth may not result in sufficient increases in revenues from our KAYAK meta-search business to offset any related decrease in gross profit or increase in advertising and other customer acquisition costs experienced by our OTA brands.

Our business could be negatively affected by changes in Internet search engine algorithms and dynamics or traffic-generating arrangements.

We use Google to generate a significant portion of the traffic to our websites, and, to a lesser extent, we use other search engines and meta-search websites to generate traffic to our websites, principally through pay-per-click advertising campaigns. The pricing and operating dynamics on these search engines can experience rapid change commercially, technically and competitively. For example, Google frequently updates and changes the logic which determines the placement and display of results of a consumer's search, such that the placement of links to our websites can be negatively affected and our costs to improve or maintain our placement in search results can increase. Google's "Hotel Finder," a utility that allows consumers to search and compare hotel accommodations, has at times placed at or near the top of hotel-related search results. If Google changes how it presents travel search results or the manner in which it conducts the auction for placement among search results, in either case in a manner that is competitively disadvantageous to us, whether to support its own travel related services or otherwise, our ability to efficiently generate traffic to our websites could be harmed, which in turn would have an adverse effect on our business, market share and results of operations.

In addition, we purchase website traffic from a number of other sources, including some operated by our competitors, in the form of pay-per-click arrangements that can be terminated with little or no notice. If one or more of such arrangements is terminated, our business, market share and results of operations could be adversely affected. Lastly, we rely on various third party distribution channels (i.e., marketing affiliates) to distribute accommodation, rental car and airline ticket reservations. Should one or more of such third parties cease distribution of reservations made through us, or suffer deterioration in its search engine ranking, due to changes in search engine algorithms or otherwise, our business and results of operations could be negatively affected.

Recent trends in consumer adoption and use of mobile devices create new challenges and may enable device companies such as Apple to compete directly with us.

Widespread adoption of mobile devices, such as the iPhone, Android-enabled smart phones and tablets such as the iPad, coupled with the improved web browsing functionality and development of thousands of useful "apps" available on these devices, is driving substantial online traffic and commerce to mobile platforms. We have experienced a significant shift of business to mobile platforms and our advertising partners are also seeing a rapid shift of traffic to mobile platforms. Our major competitors and certain new market entrants are offering mobile applications for travel products and other functionality,

including proprietary last-minute discounts for accommodation reservations. Advertising and distribution opportunities may be more limited on mobile devices given their smaller screen sizes. The gross profit earned on a mobile transaction may be less than a typical desktop transaction due to different consumer purchasing patterns. For example, accommodation reservations made on a mobile device typically are for shorter lengths of stay and are not made as far in advance. Further, given the device sizes and technical limitations of tablets and smartphones, mobile consumers may not be willing to download multiple apps from multiple companies providing a similar service and instead prefer to use one or a limited number of apps for their mobile travel and restaurant research and reservation activity. As a result, the consumer experience with mobile apps as well as brand recognition and loyalty are likely to become increasingly important. Our mobile offerings have received strong reviews and are driving a material and increasing share of our business. We believe that mobile bookings present an opportunity for growth and are necessary to maintain and grow our business as consumers increasingly turn to mobile devices instead of a personal computer. As a result, it is increasingly important for us to develop and maintain effective mobile apps and websites optimized for mobile devices to provide customers with an appealing, easy-to-use mobile experience. If we are unable to continue to rapidly innovate and create new, user-friendly and differentiated mobile offerings and efficiently and effectively advertise and distribute on these platforms, or if our mobile offerings are not used by consumers, we could lose market share to existing competitors or new entrants and our future growth and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Apple, one of the most innovative and successful companies in the world and producer of, among other things, the iPhone and iPad, obtained a patent for "iTravel," a mobile app that would allow a traveler to check in for a travel reservation. In addition, Apple's iPhone operating system includes "Passbook," a virtual wallet app that holds tickets, boarding passes, coupons and gift cards, and, along with iTravel, may be indicative of Apple's intent to enter the travel reservations business in some capacity. Apple has substantial market share in the smart phone category and controls integration of offerings, including travel services, into its mobile operating system. Apple also has more experience producing and developing mobile apps and has access to greater resources than we have. Apple may use or expand iTravel, Passbook, Siri (Apple's voice recognition "concierge" service), Apple Pay (Apple's new mobile payment system) or another mobile app or functionality as a means of entering the travel reservations marketplace. Similarly, Google's Android operating system is the leading smart phone operating system in the world. As a result, Google could leverage its Android operating system to give its travel services a competitive advantage, either technically or with prominence on its Google Play app store or within its mobile search results. To the extent Apple or Google use their mobile operating systems or app distribution channels to favor their own travel service offerings, our business could be harmed.

Our processing, storage, use and disclosure of personal data exposes us to risks of internal or external security breaches and could give rise to liabilities.

The security of data when engaging in electronic commerce is essential to maintaining consumer and travel service provider confidence in our services. Any security breach whether instigated internally or externally on our system or other Internet based systems could significantly harm our reputation and therefore our business, brand, market share and results of operations. We currently require consumers who use certain of our services to guarantee their offers with their credit card, either online or, in some instances, through our toll-free telephone service. We require user names and passwords in order to access our information technology systems. We also use encryption and authentication technologies to secure the transmission and storage of data and prevent access to our data or accounts. It is possible that computer circumvention capabilities, new discoveries or advances or other developments, including our own acts or omissions, could result in a compromise or breach of consumer data. For example, third parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees or customers to disclose user names, passwords or other sensitive information ("phishing"), which may in turn be used to access our information technology systems or to defraud our customers. We have experienced targeted and organized phishing attacks and may experience more in the future. Our efforts to protect information from unauthorized access may be unsuccessful or may result in the rejection of legitimate attempts to book reservations through our services, any of which could result in lost business and materially adversely affect our business, reputation and results of operations.

Our existing security measures may not be successful in preventing security breaches. A party (whether internal, external, an affiliate or unrelated third party) that is able to circumvent our security systems could steal consumer information or transaction data or other proprietary information. In the last few years, several major companies, including Sony, HomeDepot, JPMorgan, Target, Zappos, Apple, AOL, LinkedIn, Google, and Yahoo! experienced high-profile security breaches that exposed their customers' and employees' personal information. We expend significant resources to protect against security breaches, and we may need to increase our security related expenditures to maintain or increase our systems' security or to address problems caused and liabilities incurred by breaches. These issues are likely to become more difficult to manage as we expand the number of places where we operate and as the tools and techniques used in such attacks become more advanced. As recently experienced by Sony, security breaches could result in severe damage to our information technology infrastructure, including damage that could impair our ability to offer our services or the ability of consumers to make reservations or conduct searches through our services, as well as loss of customer, financial or other data that could materially

and adversely affect our ability to conduct our business, satisfy our commercial obligations or meet our public reporting requirements in a timely fashion or at all. Security breaches could also result in negative publicity, damage our reputation, expose us to risk of loss or litigation and possible liability, subject us to regulatory penalties and sanctions, or cause consumers to lose confidence in our security and choose to use the services of our competitors, any of which would have a negative effect on the value of our brand, our market share and our results of operations. Our insurance policies carry low coverage limits, and would likely not be adequate to reimburse us for losses caused by security breaches.

We also face risks associated with security breaches affecting third parties conducting business over the Internet. Consumers generally are concerned with security and privacy on the Internet, and any publicized security problems could inhibit the growth of the Internet and negatively affect consumers' willingness to provide private information or effect commercial transactions on the Internet generally, including through our services. Some of our business is conducted with third party marketing affiliates, which may generate travel reservations through our infrastructure or through other systems. Additionally, consumers using our services could be affected by security breaches at third parties such as travel service providers, payroll providers, health plan providers, payment processors or global distribution systems ("GDSs") upon which we rely. A security breach at any such third party marketing affiliate, travel service provider, GDS or other third party on which we rely could be perceived by consumers as a security breach of our systems and in any event could result in negative publicity, damage our reputation, expose us to risk of loss or litigation and possible liability and subject us to regulatory penalties and sanctions. In addition, such third parties may not comply with applicable disclosure requirements, which could expose us to liability.

In our processing of travel transactions, we receive and store a large volume of personally identifiable data. This data is increasingly subject to legislation and regulations in numerous jurisdictions around the world, including the European Union's Data Protection Directive and variations and implementations of that directive in the member states of the European Union. In addition, the European Union is actively considering a new General Data Protection Regulation designed to unify data protection with the European Union under a single law, which may result in significantly greater compliance burdens for companies with users and operations in the European Union. Under the draft General Data Protection Regulation fines of up to 100,000,000 Euros or up to 5% of the annual global turnover of the infringer could be imposed. This government action is typically intended to protect the privacy of personal data that is collected, processed and transmitted in or from the governing jurisdiction. In many cases, these laws apply not only to third-party transactions, but also to transfers of information between us and our subsidiaries, including employee information. These laws continue to develop and may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Non-compliance with these laws could result in penalties or significant legal liability. We could be adversely affected if legislation or regulations are expanded to require changes in our business practices or if governing jurisdictions interpret or implement their legislation or regulations in ways that negatively affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

We are also subject to payment card association rules and obligations under our contracts with payment card processors. Under these rules and obligations, if information is compromised, we could be liable to payment card issuers for associated expenses and penalties. In addition, if we fail to follow payment card industry security standards, even if no customer information is compromised, we could incur significant fines or experience a significant increase in payment card transaction costs.

System capacity constraints, system failures or "denial-of-service" or other attacks could harm our business.

We have experienced rapid growth in consumer traffic to our websites and through our mobile apps, the number of accommodations on our extranets and the geographic breadth of our operations. If our systems cannot be expanded to cope with increased demand or fail to perform, we could experience unanticipated disruptions in service, slower response times, decreased customer service and customer satisfaction and delays in the introduction of new services, any of which could impair our reputation, damage our brands and materially and adversely affect our results of operations. Further, as an online business, we are dependent on the Internet and maintaining connectivity between ourselves and consumers, sources of Internet traffic, such as Google, and our travel service providers. As consumers increasingly turn to mobile devices, we also become dependent on consumers' access to the Internet through mobile carriers and their systems. Disruptions in Internet access, whether generally, in a specific market or otherwise, especially if widespread or prolonged, could materially adversely affect our business and results of operations. While we do maintain redundant systems and hosting services, it is possible that we could experience an interruption in our business, and we do not carry business interruption insurance sufficient to compensate us for all losses that may occur.

Our computer hardware for operating our services is currently located at hosting facilities around the world. These systems and operations are vulnerable to damage or interruption from human error, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunication failures and similar events. They are also subject to break-ins, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism, terrorism and similar misconduct. Despite any precautions we may take, the occurrence of any disruption of service due to any

such misconduct, natural disaster or other unanticipated problems at such facilities, or the failure by such facilities to provide our required data communications capacity could result in lengthy interruptions or delays in our services. Any system failure that causes an interruption or delay in service could impair our reputation, damage our brands or result in consumers choosing to use a competitive service, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Our existing security measures may not be successful in preventing attacks on our systems, and any such attack could cause significant interruptions in our operations. For instance, from time to time, we have experienced "denial-of-service" type attacks on our systems that have made portions of our websites slow or unavailable for periods of time. There are numerous other potential forms of attack, such as "phishing" (where a third party attempts to infiltrate our systems or acquire information by posing as a legitimate inquiry or electronic communication), SQL injection (where a third party attempts to obtain information or otherwise insert malicious code into our software through data entry fields in our websites) and attempting to use our websites as a platform to launch a "denial-of-service" attack on another party, each of which could cause significant interruptions in our operations and potentially adversely affect our brand, operations and results of operations or involve us in legal or regulatory proceedings. We expend significant resources in an attempt to prepare for and mitigate the effects of any such attacks. Reductions in website availability and response time could cause loss of substantial business volumes during the occurrence of any such attack on our systems, and measures we may take to divert suspect traffic in the event of such an attack could result in the diversion of bona fide customers. These issues are likely to become more difficult to manage as we expand the number of places where we operate and as the tools and techniques used in such attacks become more advanced. Successful attacks could result in negative publicity, damage our reputation and prevent consumers from booking travel services, researching travel services or making restaurant reservations through us during the attack, any of which could cause consumers to use the services of our competitors, which would have a negative effect on the value of our brands, our market share and our results of operations.

We rely on certain third party computer systems and third party service providers, including GDSs and computerized central reservation systems of the accommodation, rental car and airline industries in connection with providing some of our services. Any interruption in these third party services and systems or deterioration in their performance could prevent us from booking related accommodation, rental car and airline reservations and have a material adverse effect on our business, brands and results of operations. Our agreements with some third party service providers are terminable upon short notice and often do not provide recourse for service interruptions. In the event our arrangement with any such third party is terminated, we may not be able to find an alternative source of systems support on a timely basis or on commercially reasonable terms and, as a result, it could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

We depend upon various third parties to process credit cards for our merchant transactions around the world. In addition, we rely on third parties to provide credit card numbers which we use as a payment mechanism for merchant transactions. If any such third party were wholly or partially compromised, our cash flows could be disrupted or we may not be able to generate merchant transactions (and related revenues) until such a time as a replacement process could be put in place with a different vendor.

We do not have a completely formalized or comprehensive disaster recovery plan in every geographic region in which we conduct business. In the event of certain system failures, we may not be able to switch to back-up systems immediately and the time to full recovery could be prolonged. Like many online businesses, we have experienced system failures from time to time. In addition to placing increased burdens on our engineering staff, these outages create a significant amount of consumer questions and complaints that need to be addressed by our customer support personnel. Any unscheduled interruption in our service could result in an immediate loss of revenues that can be substantial, increase customer service cost, harm our reputation and cause some consumers to switch to our competitors. If we experience frequent or persistent system failures, our reputation and brand could be permanently and significantly harmed. We have taken and continue to take steps to increase the reliability and redundancy of our systems. These steps are expensive, may reduce our margins and may not be successful in reducing the frequency or duration of unscheduled downtime.

We use both internally developed systems and third-party systems to operate our services, including transaction processing, order management and financial systems. If the number of consumers using our services increases substantially, or if critical third-party systems stop operating as designed, we will need to significantly expand and upgrade our technology, transaction processing systems, financial and accounting systems and other infrastructure. We may not be able to upgrade our systems and infrastructure to accommodate such conditions in a timely manner, and, depending on the third-party systems affected, our transactional, financial and accounting systems could be impacted for a meaningful amount of time before upgrade, expansion or repair.

We may have exposure to additional tax liabilities.

As an international business providing reservation and advertising services around the world, we are subject to income taxes and non-income based taxes in both the United States and various non-U.S. jurisdictions. Due to economic and political conditions, tax rates in various jurisdictions may be subject to significant change. Our future effective tax rates could be affected by changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets or changes in tax laws or their interpretation. If our effective tax rates were to increase, our cash flows, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected.

Although we believe that our tax filing positions are reasonable, the final determination of tax audits or tax disputes may be different from what is reflected in our historical income tax provisions and accruals. To date, we have been audited in several taxing jurisdictions with no significant impact on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. If future audits find that additional taxes are due, we may be subject to incremental tax liabilities, possibly including interest and penalties, which could have a material adverse effect on our cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.

For example, French authorities have initiated an audit to determine whether we are in compliance with our tax obligations in France, and we expect to get a preliminary response in the first half of 2015. While we believe that we comply with French tax law, we expect French tax authorities to assert that we owe additional taxes and issue an assessment, which could be significant and which could include penalties and interest. In addition, we may be required to pay upfront the full amount of any such assessment in order to appeal it, though any such payment would not constitute an admission by us that we owe the tax. In general, governments in the United States and Europe are increasingly focused on ways to increase revenues, which has contributed to an increase in audit activity and harsher stances taken by tax authorities. Any such additional taxes or other assessments may be in excess of our current tax provisions or may require us to modify our business practices in order to reduce our exposure to additional taxes going forward, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We will be subject to increased income taxes in the event that our cash balances held outside the United States are remitted to the United States. As of December 31, 2014, we held approximately $6.9 billion of cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments and long-term investments outside of the United States. We currently intend to use our cash held outside the United States to reinvest in our non-U.S. operations. If our cash balances outside the United States continue to grow and our ability to reinvest those balances outside the United States diminishes, it will become increasingly likely that we will be subject to additional income tax expense in the United States with respect to our unremitted non-U.S. earnings. We would not make additional income tax payments unless we were to actually repatriate our international cash to the United States. We would pay only U.S. federal alternative minimum tax and certain U.S. state income taxes as long as we have net operating loss carryforwards available to offset our U.S. taxable income. This could result in us being subject to a cash income tax liability on the earnings of our U.S. businesses sooner than would otherwise have been the case.

Various legislative proposals that would reform U.S. corporate income tax laws have been proposed by President Obama's administration as well as members of the U.S. Congress, including proposals that would significantly impact how U.S. multinational corporations are taxed on foreign earnings. Such proposals include changes that would reduce U.S. tax deferral on certain foreign digital goods and services transactions, impose a minimum U.S. tax on foreign earnings, limit U.S. deductions for interest expense related to un-repatriated non-U.S.-source income, limit interest and royalty deductions in connection with certain related party transactions and put in place certain tax disincentives for offshoring jobs or business segments. We cannot determine whether some or all of these or other proposals will be enacted into law or what, if any, changes may be made to such proposals prior to being enacted into law. If U.S. tax laws change in a manner that increases our tax obligations, our financial position and results of operations could be adversely impacted.

Additionally, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development ("OECD") issued an action plan in July 2013 calling for a coordinated multi-jurisdictional approach to "base erosion and profit shifting" by multinational companies. The action plan expressed the OECD's view that international tax standards have not kept pace with changes in global business practices and concluded that changes are needed to international tax laws to address situations where multinationals may pay little or no tax in certain jurisdictions by shifting profits away from jurisdictions where the activities creating those profits may take place. The action plan identified 15 actions the OECD determined are needed to address "base erosion and profit shifting" and generally set target dates for completion of each of the items between 2014 and 2015. Reports addressing 7 of these actions were released by the OECD in September 2014. The proposed measures contained in these reports are not yet finalized as they may be affected by the proposals to be made with respect to the remaining actions. Any changes to international tax laws, including new definitions of permanent establishment or changes affecting the benefits of preferential tax regimes such as the Dutch "Innovation Box Tax" (discussed below), could impact the tax treatment of our foreign earnings and adversely impact our effective tax rate. Due to the large and expanding scale of our international business activities, any changes in U.S.

or international taxation of our activities may increase our worldwide effective tax rate and could adversely affect our financial position and results of operations.

We are also subject to non-income based taxes, such as value-added, payroll, sales, use, net worth, property and goods and services taxes, in the United States and various non-U.S. jurisdictions, as well as the potential for travel transaction taxes in the United States as discussed below and in Note 16 to our Consolidated Financial Statements. For example, in July 2012 and December 2013, the Dutch Government enacted certain amendments to Dutch tax law including one-time levies on an employer applied to employee earnings, equal to 16% of an employee's earnings in excess of 150,000 Euros. These irrevocable levies resulted in additional payroll taxes of approximately $12 million (approximately $9 million after tax) in the fourth quarter of 2013 and approximately $14 million (approximately $10 million after tax) principally recorded in the third quarter of 2012. From time to time, we are under audit by tax authorities with respect to these non-income based taxes and may have exposure to additional non-income based tax liabilities.

We may not be able to maintain our "Innovation Box Tax" benefit.

The Netherlands corporate income tax law provides that income generated from qualifying "innovative" activities is taxed at the rate of 5% ("Innovation Box Tax") rather than the Dutch statutory rate of 25%. Booking.com obtained a ruling from the Dutch tax authorities confirming that a portion of its earnings ("qualifying earnings") is eligible for Innovation Box Tax treatment. This ruling was renewed in July 2013 and is valid through December 31, 2017.

In order to be eligible for Innovation Box Tax treatment, Booking.com must, among other things, apply for and obtain a research and development ("R&D") certificate from a Dutch governmental agency every six months confirming that the activities that Booking.com intends to be engaged in over the subsequent six month period are "innovative." The R&D certificate is current but should Booking.com fail to secure such a certificate in any future period - for example, because the governmental agency does not view Booking.com's new or anticipated activities as innovative - or should this agency determine that the activities contemplated to be performed in a prior period were not performed as contemplated or did not comply with the agency's requirements, Booking.com may lose its certificate and, as a result, the Innovation Box Tax benefit may be reduced or eliminated. Booking.com intends to apply for continued Innovation Box Tax treatment for future periods. However, Booking.com's application may not be accepted, or, if accepted, the amount of qualifying earnings may be reduced or the applicable tax rate on qualifying earnings may be higher than the current rate.

In addition, the tax law may change resulting in a reduction or elimination of the tax benefit. As discussed above, the OECD's action plan involves, in part, evaluation of tax regimes such as the Innovation Box Tax. The European Union Council of Economics and Finance Ministers ("ECOFIN") has endorsed changes to limit member states' existing innovation and patent box tax regimes providing benefits related to profits derived from intangible assets such as intellectual property. The changes endorsed by ECOFIN would, if adopted, limit such benefits only to profits derived from patentable intellectual property. It is expected that the legislative process related to the proposed changes will begin in 2015. However, the proposals may not be adopted in the form endorsed by ECOFIN or at all, and it is expected that any changes will include transition rules and will be fully implemented no later than July 2021. To the extent Booking.com's intellectual property developed by its innovative activities do not meet the requirements under any new legislation, Booking.com would eventually lose the benefit of the Innovation Box Tax.

The loss of the Innovation Box Tax benefit would substantially increase our effective tax rate and adversely impact our results of operations.

Our financial results will likely be materially impacted by payment of income taxes in the future.

Until our U.S. net operating loss carryforwards are utilized or expire, we do not expect to make tax payments on most of our U.S. income, except for U.S. federal alternative minimum tax and state income taxes. However, we expect to pay non-U.S. taxes on our non-U.S. income other than in countries where we have operating loss carryforwards. We expect that our international business will continue to generate most of our revenues and profits and will continue to grow pretax income at a higher rate than our U.S. business and, therefore, we expect that our tax payments will continue to increase. Any increase in our effective tax rate would have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

Adverse application of U.S. state and local tax laws could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

A number of jurisdictions in the United States have initiated lawsuits against online travel companies, including us, related to, among other things, the payment of travel transaction taxes (e.g., hotel occupancy taxes, excise taxes, sales taxes, etc.). In addition, a number of U.S. states, counties and municipalities have initiated audit proceedings, issued proposed tax

assessments or started inquiries relating to the payment of travel transaction taxes. See Part I Item 3 Legal Proceedings and Note 16 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for a description of these pending cases and proceedings. Additional state and local jurisdictions may assert that we are subject to, among other things, travel transaction taxes and could seek to collect such taxes, either retroactively or prospectively, or both.

In connection with some travel transaction tax audits and assessments, we may be required to pay any assessed taxes, which amounts may be substantial, prior to being allowed to contest the assessments and the applicability of the laws in judicial proceedings. This requirement is commonly referred to as "pay to play" or "pay first." Payment of these amounts, if any, is not an admission that we believe that we are subject to such taxes and, even if we make such payments, we intend to continue to vigorously assert our position that we should not be subject to such taxes.

Litigation is subject to uncertainty and there could be adverse developments in these pending or future cases and proceedings. For example, in September 2012, the Superior Court in the District of Columbia granted a summary judgment in favor of the city and against online travel companies. Similarly, in January 2013, the Tax Appeal Court for the State of Hawaii held that online travel companies, including us, are liable for the State's general excise tax on the full amount the online travel company collects from the customer for a hotel room reservation, without any offset for amounts passed through to the hotel. We recorded an accrual for travel transaction taxes (including estimated interest and penalties) of approximately $16.5 million in December 2012 and approximately $18.7 million in the three months ended March 31, 2013, primarily related to this ruling. During the year ended December 31, 2013 and December 31, 2014 the Company paid approximately $20.6 million and $2.2 million, respectively, to the State of Hawaii related to this ruling. The Company has filed an appeal with the Tax Appeal Court and intends to vigorously appeal this ruling. These decisions and any similar decisions in other jurisdictions could have a material adverse effect on our business, margins and results of operations. An unfavorable outcome or settlement of pending litigation may encourage the commencement of additional litigation, audit proceedings or other regulatory inquiries. In addition, an unfavorable outcome or settlement of these actions or proceedings could result in substantial liabilities for past and/or future bookings, including, among other things, interest, penalties, punitive damages and/or attorney fees and costs. There have been, and will continue to be, substantial ongoing costs, which may include "pay first" payments, associated with defending our position in pending and any future cases or proceedings. An adverse outcome in one or more of these unresolved proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations and could be material to our results of operations or cash flows in any given fiscal period.

To the extent that any tax authority succeeds in asserting that we have a tax collection responsibility, or we determine that we have such a responsibility, with respect to future transactions we may collect any such additional tax obligation from our customers, which would have the effect of increasing the cost of travel reservations to our customers and, consequently, could make our travel reservation service less competitive (i.e., versus the websites of other online travel companies or travel service providers) and reduce our travel reservation transactions; alternatively, we could choose to reduce our profit on affected travel transactions. Either action could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

In many of the judicial and other proceedings initiated to date, the taxing jurisdictions seek not only historical taxes that are claimed to be owed on our gross profit, but also, among other things, interest, penalties, punitive damages and/or attorney fees and costs. Therefore, any liability associated with travel transaction tax matters is not constrained to our liability for tax owed, but may also include, among other things, penalties, interest and attorneys' fees. To date, the majority of the taxing jurisdictions in which we facilitate travel reservations have not asserted that taxes are due and payable on our travel services. With respect to taxing jurisdictions that have not initiated proceedings to date, it is possible that they will do so in the future or that they will seek to amend their tax statutes and seek to collect taxes from us only on a prospective basis.

We face increased risks as the level of our debt increases.

We have a substantial amount of outstanding indebtedness and we may incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future, including through public or private offerings of debt securities. Our outstanding indebtedness and any additional indebtedness we incur may have significant consequences, which could include:

•	requiring the dedication of a significant portion of our cash flow from operations to service our indebtedness, thereby reducing the amount of cash flow available for other purposes, including capital expenditures, share repurchases and acquisitions;

•	increased vulnerability to downturns in our business, to competitive pressures and to adverse changes in general economic and industry conditions;

•	decreased ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, share repurchases or other general corporate purposes; and

•	decreased flexibility when planning for or reacting to changes in our business and industry.

Our ability to make payments of principal of and interest on our indebtedness depends upon our future performance, which will be subject to general economic conditions, industry cycles and financial, business and other factors affecting our consolidated results of operations and financial condition, many of which are beyond our control. Further, we may not have access to equity or debt markets or other sources of financing, or such financing may not be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, to repay or refinance our debt as it comes due or, in the case of our convertible notes, upon conversion. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow from our U.S. operations in the future to service our debt, we may be required to, among other things, repatriate funds to the United States at substantial tax cost.

We are dependent on providers of accommodations, rental cars and airline tickets and on restaurants.

We rely on providers of accommodations, rental cars and airline tickets and on restaurants to make their services available to consumers through us. Our arrangements with travel service providers generally do not require them to make available any specific quantity of accommodation reservations, rental cars or airline tickets, or to make accommodation reservations, rental cars or airline tickets available in any geographic area, for any particular route or at any particular price. Similarly, our arrangements with restaurants generally do not require them to provide all of their available tables and reservations to customers through us. During the course of our business, we are in continuous dialog with our major travel service providers about the nature and extent of their participation in our services. A significant reduction on the part of any of our major travel service providers or providers that are particularly popular with consumers in their participation in our services for a sustained period of time or their complete withdrawal could have a material adverse effect on our business, market share and results of operations. To the extent any of those major or popular travel service providers ceased to participate in our services in favor of one of our competitors' systems or decided to require consumers to purchase services directly from them, our business, market share and results of operations could be harmed. Further, as consolidation among travel service providers increases, the potential adverse effect of a decision by any particular significant travel service provider (such as a large hotel chain, airline or rental car company) to withdraw from or reduce its participation in our services also increases. To the extent restaurants limit the availability of reservations through OpenTable, consumers may not continue to use our services and/or our revenues could be adversely affected, especially if reservations during highly desirable times on high volume days are not made available through us.

Further, KAYAK, a meta-search service, depends on access to information related to travel service pricing, schedules, availability and other related information from OTAs and travel service providers to attract consumers. To obtain this information, KAYAK maintains relationships with travel service providers and OTAs. Many of KAYAK's agreements with travel service providers and OTAs are short-term agreements that may be terminated on 30 days' notice. To the extent OTAs or travel service providers no longer provide such information to KAYAK, KAYAK's ability to provide comprehensive travel service information to consumers could be diminished and its brand, business and results of operations could be harmed. To the extent consumers do not view KAYAK as a reliable source of comprehensive travel service information, fewer consumers would likely visit its websites, which would also likely have a negative impact on KAYAK's advertising revenue and results of operations. In addition, if travel service providers or OTAs choose not to advertise with KAYAK or choose to reduce or eliminate the fees paid to KAYAK for referrals from query results, KAYAK's results of operations could be adversely affected.

We rely on the performance of highly skilled personnel; and, if we are unable to retain or motivate key personnel or hire, retain and motivate qualified personnel, our business would be harmed.

Our performance is largely dependent on the talents and efforts of highly skilled individuals. Our future success depends on our continuing ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate and retain highly skilled personnel for all areas of our organization. In particular, the contributions of certain key senior management in the United States, Europe and Asia are critical to the overall management of our business. We may not be able to retain the services of any members of our senior management or other key employees, the loss of whom could harm our business.

In addition, competition for well-qualified employees in all aspects of our business, including software engineers, mobile communication talent and other technology professionals, is intense both in the United States and abroad. Our international success in particular has led to increased efforts by our competitors and others to hire our international employees. Our continued ability to compete effectively depends on our ability to attract new employees and to retain and motivate existing employees. If we do not succeed in attracting well-qualified employees or retaining and motivating existing employees, our business would be adversely affected. We do not maintain any key person life insurance policies.

As the size of our business grows, we may become increasingly subject to the scrutiny of anti-trust and competition regulators.

In July 2012, the Office of Fair Trading (the "OFT"), the predecessor competition authority in the United Kingdom to the Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA"), issued a "Statement of Objections" ("SO") to Booking.com, which set out the OFT's preliminary views on why it believed Booking.com and others in the online accommodation reservation sector were allegedly in breach of E.U. and U.K. competition law. The SO alleged, among other things, that there were agreements or concerted practices between accommodations and Booking.com and at least one other online travel company that restricted Booking.com's (and the other online travel company's) ability to discount hotel room reservations, which the OFT alleged was a form of resale price maintenance. We dispute the allegations in the SO. Booking.com runs an agency model accommodation reservation platform in which accommodations have complete discretion and control over setting the prices that appear on the Booking.com website. Booking.com is a facilitator of accommodation room reservations; it does not take possession of or title to accommodation rooms and is not a reseller of accommodation rooms. Because Booking.com plays no role in price setting, does not control pricing and does not resell accommodation rooms, it does not believe that it engages in the conduct alleged in the SO. On January 31, 2014, the OFT announced that it had accepted commitments offered by Booking.com, as well as by Expedia and Intercontinental Hotel Group, ("Commitments") to close the investigation on the basis that they address the OFT's competition concerns. The OFT closed its investigation with no finding of infringement or admission of wrongdoing and no imposition of a fine. The Commitments provide, among other things, that hotels will continue to be able to set retail prices for hotel room reservations on all online travel company websites, such as Booking.com. Under the Commitments, online travel companies, such as Booking.com, have the flexibility to discount a hotel's retail price, but only to members of closed groups, a concept that is defined in the Commitments, who have previously made a reservation with the online travel company. The discount may be up to Booking.com's commission. In addition, the Commitments provide that Booking.com will not require rate parity from hotels in relation to discounted rates that are provided by other online travel companies or hotels to members of their closed groups, provided the discounted rate is not made public. The Commitments apply to bookings by European Economic Area residents at U.K. hotels. On March 31, 2014, Skyscanner, a meta-search site based in the United Kingdom, filed an appeal in the Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT") against the OFT's decision to accept the Commitments. Booking.com intervened in support of the CMA in the CAT. In its decision dated September 26, 2014, the CAT found that the CMA was wrong to reject Skyscanner's arguments about the negative impact of the Commitments on its business and price transparency generally without properly exploring these arguments. The CAT's decision vacates the CMA's Commitments decision and remits the matter to the CMA for reconsideration in accordance with the CAT's ruling. It is uncertain what action the CMA will take in response to the CAT's ruling, which could involve re-opening, closing or suspending the investigation. The CMA did not appeal the CAT's decision. As many industry participants have been operating based on the substance of the Commitments since they were adopted, it is uncertain how the CAT's decision and any resulting action by the CMA will affect industry practice, including discounting to closed user groups, the status of rate parity clauses found in many online travel companies' contracts with hotels and other travel service providers, and our business and results of operations.

The competition authorities of many governments have begun investigations into competitive practices within the online travel industry, and we may be involved or affected by such investigations and their results. In addition to the U.K. investigation discussed above, national competition authorities in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Sweden, Ireland, Denmark and Switzerland, have opened investigations that focus on Booking.com's rate parity clause in its contracts with accommodation providers in those jurisdictions. Competition related inquiries have also been received from the competition authority in China. We are in ongoing discussions with the relevant regulatory authorities regarding their concerns. We are currently unable to predict the outcome of all of these investigations or how our business may be affected. Possible outcomes include requiring Booking.com to remove its rate parity clause from its contracts with accommodation providers in those jurisdictions and/or the imposition of fines.

On December 15, 2014, the French, Italian and Swedish national competition authorities, working in close cooperation with the European Commission, announced their intention to seek public feedback on commitments offered by Booking.com in connection with investigations of Booking.com's rate parity provisions in its contractual arrangements with accommodation providers. If the proposed commitments are accepted by the French, Italian and Swedish competition authorities, the investigations in those countries will be closed with no finding of infringement or admission of wrongdoing and no imposition of a fine. Under the terms of the proposed commitments, Booking.com would replace its existing price parity agreements with accommodation providers - sometimes also referred to as "most favored nation" or "MFN" provisions - with "narrow" price parity agreements. Under the "narrow" price parity agreement, an accommodation provider would still be required to offer the same or better rates on Booking.com as it offered to a consumer directly, but it would no longer be required to offer the same or better rates on Booking.com as it offered to other on-line travel companies. If the commitments are accepted by the French, Italian and Swedish competition authorities after they have been market tested, Booking.com will implement the commitments within six months of their being accepted. We are currently unable to predict the outcome of the market test of the proposed commitments offered in France, Italy and Sweden or the impact the proposed commitments in France, Italy and Sweden will

have on the on-going investigations in other European countries or how our business may be affected by the proposed commitments if accepted. We note that the German competition authority has required Hotel Reservation Service to remove its rate parity clause from its contracts with hotels, and Hotel Reservation Service's initial appeal was denied. To the extent that regulatory authorities require changes to our business practices or to those currently common to the industry, our business, competitive position and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. Negative publicity regarding any such investigations could adversely affect our brands and therefore our market share and results of operations.

Further, as our business grows, we may increasingly become the target of such investigations or be limited by anti-trust or competition laws. For example, our size and market share may negatively affect our ability to obtain regulatory approval of proposed acquisitions or our ability to expand into complementary businesses, any of which could adversely affect our ability to grow and compete.

Regulatory and legal requirements and uncertainties could harm our business.

The services we offer are subject to legal regulations (including laws, ordinances, rules and other requirements and regulations) of national and local governments and regulatory authorities around the world, many of which are evolving and subject to the possibility of new or revised interpretations. Our ability to provide our services is and will continue to be affected by such regulations. For example, laws and proposed legislation relating to data localization in some countries could adversely affect our ability to conduct business in those countries. The implementation of unfavorable regulations or unfavorable interpretations of existing regulations by judicial or regulatory bodies could require us to incur significant compliance costs, cause the development of the affected markets to become impractical and otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Compliance with the laws and regulations of multiple jurisdictions increases our cost of doing business. These laws and regulations, which vary and sometimes conflict, include the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act and local laws which also prohibit corrupt payments to governmental officials or third parties, data privacy requirements, labor relations laws, tax laws, anti-trust or competition laws, U.S., E.U. or U.N. sanctioned country or sanctioned persons mandates, and consumer protection laws. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines and/or criminal sanctions against us, our officers or our employees and/or prohibitions on the conduct of our business. Any such violations could result in prohibitions on our ability to offer our services in one or more countries, could delay or prevent potential acquisitions, and could also materially damage our reputation, our brands, our international expansion efforts, our ability to attract and retain employees, our business and our operating results. In addition, these restrictions may provide a competitive advantage to our competitors unless they are also subject to comparable restrictions. Our success depends, in part, on our ability to anticipate these risks and manage these difficulties. We are also subject to a variety of other regulatory and legal risks and challenges in managing an organization operating in various countries, including those related to:

•	regulatory changes or other government actions;

•	additional complexity to comply with regulations in multiple jurisdictions, as well as overlapping or inconsistent legal regimes, in particular with respect to tax, labor, consumer protection, digital content, advertising, promotions, privacy and anti-trust laws;

•	our ability to repatriate funds held by our non-U.S. subsidiaries to the United States at favorable tax rates;

•	difficulties in transferring funds from or converting currencies in certain countries; and

•	reduced protection for intellectual property rights in some countries.

Our business has grown substantially over the last several years and continues to expand into new geographic locations. In addition, we have made efforts and expect to make further efforts to integrate access to travel services across our various brands. These changes add complexity to legal and tax compliance, and our increased size and operating history may increase the likelihood that we will be subject to audits by tax authorities in various jurisdictions.

"Cookie" laws could negatively impact the way we do business.

A "cookie" is a text file that is stored on a user's web browser by a website. Cookies are common tools used by thousands of websites, including ours, to, among other things, store or gather information (e.g., remember log-on details so a user does not have to re-enter them when revisiting a website), market to consumers and enhance the user experience on a website. Cookies are valuable tools for websites like ours to improve the customer experience and increase conversion on their websites.

The European Union's ePrivacy Directive requires member countries to adopt regulations governing the use of "cookies" by websites servicing consumers in the European Union. For example, on June 5, 2012, an amendment to the Dutch Telecommunications Act became effective. The amended act requires websites, including Booking.com, to provide Dutch users with clear and comprehensive information about the storage and use of certain cookies and obtain prior consent from the user before placing certain cookies on a user's web browser. To the extent any such regulations require "opt-in" consent before certain cookies can be placed on a user's web browser, our ability, in particular Booking.com's ability, to serve certain customers in the manner we currently do might be adversely affected and our ability to continue to improve and optimize performance on our websites might be impaired, either of which could negatively affect a consumer's experience using our services. As a result, these regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business, market share and results of operations.

Our stock price is highly volatile.

The market price of our common stock is highly volatile and is likely to continue to be subject to wide fluctuations in response to factors such as the following, some of which are beyond our control:

•	operating results that vary from the expectations of securities analysts and investors;

•	quarterly variations in our operating results;

•	changes in expectations as to our future financial performance, including financial estimates by securities analysts and investors;

•	worldwide economic conditions in general and in Europe in particular;

•	fluctuations in currency exchange rates, particularly between the U.S. Dollar and the Euro;

•	announcements of technological innovations or new services by us or our competitors;

•	changes in our capital structure;

•	changes in market valuations of other Internet or online service companies;

•	announcements by us or our competitors of price reductions, promotions, significant contracts, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments;

•	loss of a major travel service provider participant, such as a hotel chain, rental car company or airline, from our services;

•	changes in the status of our intellectual property rights;

•	lack of success in the expansion of our business model geographically;

•	announcements by third parties of significant claims or initiation of litigation proceedings against us or adverse developments in pending proceedings;

•	occurrences of a significant security breach;

•	additions or departures of key personnel; and

•	trading volume fluctuations.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock, including through the conversion of our convertible notes, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock by introducing a large number of sellers to the market. Given the volatility that exists for our shares, such sales could cause the market price of our common stock to decline significantly. In addition, fluctuations in our stock price and our price-to-earnings multiple may have made our stock attractive to momentum, hedge or day-trading investors who often shift funds into and out of stocks rapidly, exacerbating price fluctuations in either direction, particularly when viewed on a quarterly basis.

The trading prices of Internet company stocks in general, including ours, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. To the extent that the public's perception of the prospects of Internet or e-commerce companies is negative, our stock price could decline, regardless of our results. Other broad market and industry factors may decrease the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance. Market fluctuations, as well as general political and economic conditions, such as a recession or interest rate or currency rate fluctuations, could cause our stock price to decline. Negative market conditions could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital or the value of our stock for purposes of acquiring other companies or businesses.

We have, in the past, been a defendant in securities class action litigation. Securities class action litigation has often been brought against a company following periods of volatility in the market price of its securities. To the extent our stock price declines or is volatile, we may in the future be the target of additional litigation. This additional litigation could result in substantial costs and divert management's attention and resources, either of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may not be able to keep up with rapid technological changes.

The markets in which we compete are characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, consolidation, frequent new service announcements, introductions and enhancements and changing consumer demands. We may not be able to keep up with these rapid changes. In addition, these market characteristics are heightened by the progress of technology adoption in various markets, including the continuing adoption of the Internet and online commerce in certain geographies and the emergence and growth of the use of smart phones and tablets for mobile e-commerce transactions, including through the increasing use of mobile apps. As a result, our future success will depend on our ability to adapt to rapidly changing technologies, to adapt our services to evolving industry standards and to continually innovate and improve the performance, features and reliability of our services in response to competitive service offerings and the evolving demands of the marketplace. In particular, we believe that it will be increasingly important for us to effectively offer our services through mobile applications and mobile optimized websites on smart phones and tablets. Any failure by us to successfully develop and achieve customer adoption of our mobile applications and mobile optimized websites would likely have a material and adverse effect on our growth, market share, business and results of operations. We believe that increasingly ease-of-use, comprehensive functionality and the look and feel of our mobile apps and mobile optimized websites will be competitively critical as consumers obtain more of their travel and restaurant services through mobile devices. As a result, we intend to continue to spend significant resources maintaining, developing and enhancing our websites, including our mobile optimized websites, and our mobile apps and other technology.

In addition, the widespread adoption of new Internet, networking or telecommunications technologies or other technological changes could require us to incur substantial expenditures to modify or adapt our services or infrastructure to those new technologies, which could adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. For example, KAYAK generates revenues, in part, by allowing consumers to compare search results that appear in additional "pop-under" windows. Changes in browser functionality, such as changes that either block or otherwise limit the use of "pop-under" windows, at times has had a negative impact on our revenues. Any failure to implement or adapt to new technologies in a timely manner or at all could adversely affect our ability to compete, increase our customer acquisition costs or otherwise adversely affect our business, and therefore adversely affect our brand, market share and results of operations.

We face risks related to our intellectual property.

We regard our intellectual property as critical to our success, and we rely on domain name, trademark, copyright and patent law, trade secret protection and confidentiality and/or license agreements with our employees, travel service providers, partners and others to protect our proprietary rights. We have filed various applications for protection of certain aspects of our intellectual property in the United States and other jurisdictions, and we currently hold a number of issued patents in multiple jurisdictions. Further, in the future we may acquire additional patents or patent portfolios, which could require significant cash expenditures. However, we may choose not to patent or otherwise register some of our intellectual property and instead rely on trade secret or other means of protecting our intellectual property. We have licensed in the past, and may license in the future, certain of our proprietary rights, such as trademarks or copyrighted material, to third parties, and these licensees may take

actions that diminish the value of our proprietary rights or harm our reputation. In addition, effective intellectual property protection may not be available in every country in which our services are made available online. We may be required to expend significant time and resources to prevent infringement or to enforce our intellectual property rights.

While we believe that our intellectual property rights, including our issued patents and pending patent applications, help to protect our business, there can be no assurance that:

•	a third party will not have or obtain one or more patents that can prevent us from practicing features of our business or that will require us to pay for a license to use those features;

•	our operations do not or will not infringe valid, enforceable patents of third parties;

•	we can successfully defend our patents against challenges by third parties;

•	pending patent applications will result in the issuance of patents;

•	competitors or potential competitors will not devise new methods of competing with us that are not covered by our patents or patent applications;

•	because of variations in the application of our business model to each of our services, our patents will be effective in preventing one or more third parties from utilizing a copycat business model to offer the same service in one or more categories;

•	new prior art will not be discovered that may diminish the value of or invalidate an issued patent; or

•	legislative or judicial action will not directly or indirectly affect the scope and validity of any of our patent rights, including the ability to obtain and enforce so called "business method patents".

If we are not successful in protecting our intellectual property, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, brands and results of operations.

From time to time, in the ordinary course of our business, we have been subject to, and are currently subject to, legal proceedings and claims relating to the intellectual property rights of others, and we expect that third parties will continue to assert intellectual property claims, in particular patent claims, against us, particularly as we expand the complexity and scope of our business. For example, in February 2015, IBM sued us and certain of our subsidiaries asserting that we infringe certain IBM patents and claiming damages and injunctive relief. While we believe the suit to be without merit and intend to contest it vigorously, litigation is uncertain and we may not be successful. We endeavor to defend our intellectual property rights diligently, but intellectual property litigation is extremely expensive and time consuming, and may divert managerial attention and resources from our business objectives. Successful infringement claims against us could result in significant monetary liability or prevent us from operating our business, or portions of our business. In addition, resolution of claims may require us to obtain licenses to use intellectual property rights belonging to third parties, which may be expensive to procure, or possibly to cease using those rights altogether. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Our use of "open source" software could adversely affect our ability to protect our proprietary software and subject us to possible litigation.

We use open source software in connection with our software development. From time to time, companies that use open source software have faced claims challenging the use of open source software and/or compliance with open source license terms. We could be subject to suits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source software, or claiming non-compliance with open source licensing terms. Some open source licenses require users who distribute software containing open source to make available all or part of such software, which in some circumstances could include valuable proprietary code of the user. While we monitor our use of open source software and try to ensure that none is used in a manner that would require us to disclose our proprietary source code or that would otherwise breach the terms of an open source agreement, such use could inadvertently occur, in part because open source license terms are often ambiguous. Any requirement to disclose our proprietary source code or pay damages for breach of contract could be harmful to our business, results of operations or financial condition, and could help our competitors develop services that are similar to or better than ours.

Our business is exposed to risks associated with processing credit card transactions.

Our results have been negatively impacted by purchases made using fraudulent credit cards. Because we act as the merchant of record in a majority of our priceline.com transactions as well as those of agoda.com and rentalcars.com, we may be held liable for accepting fraudulent credit cards on our websites as well as other payment disputes with our customers. Additionally, we may be held liable for accepting fraudulent credit cards in certain retail transactions when we do not act as merchant of record. Accordingly, we calculate and record an allowance for the resulting credit card chargebacks. If we are unable to combat the use of fraudulent credit cards on our websites, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

In addition, in the event that one of our major travel service providers voluntarily or involuntarily declares bankruptcy, we could experience an increase in credit card chargebacks from customers with travel reservations with such travel service provider. For example, airlines that participate in our services and declare bankruptcy or cease operations may be unable or unwilling to honor tickets sold for their flights. Our policy in such event is to direct customers seeking a refund or exchange to the airline, and not to provide a remedy ourselves. Because we are the merchant-of-record on sales of Name Your Own Price® and Express Deals® airline tickets to our customers, however, we could experience a significant increase in demands for refunds or credit card chargebacks from customers, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. For example, in April 2008, Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines each ceased operations, and we experienced an increase in credit card chargebacks from customers with tickets on those airlines. Agoda.com and rentalcars.com process credit card transactions and operate in numerous currencies. Credit card costs are typically higher for foreign currency transactions and in instances where cancellations occur.

The success of our acquisition of OpenTable is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties.

On July 24, 2014, we acquired OpenTable, a leading brand for booking online restaurant reservations. We believe that the online restaurant reservation business is complementary to our online travel businesses, and that both OpenTable and our travel businesses will benefit from adding OpenTable to The Priceline Group. As a result of our acquisition of OpenTable, we are subject to risks associated with OpenTable's business, many of which are the same risks that our other businesses face. Other risks include: OpenTable's ability to increase the number of restaurants and diners using its products and services and retain existing restaurants and diners; competition both to provide reservation management services to restaurants and to attract diners to make reservations through OpenTable's websites and apps; OpenTable's ability to expand internationally; OpenTable's ability to effectively and efficiently market to new restaurants and diners; and any risks that cause people to refrain from dining at restaurants, such as economic downturns, severe weather, outbreaks of pandemic or contagious diseases, or threats of terrorist attacks. If OpenTable is unsuccessful in profitably growing its global online restaurant reservation business or it experiences a significant reduction in revenues due to factors such as competition, increased capital expenditures or investments we make in growing OpenTable's business, in particular internationally, or any other reason, the value of our investment in OpenTable may be adversely affected and we may incur an impairment charge related to goodwill.

Investment in new business strategies and acquisitions could disrupt our ongoing business and present risks not originally contemplated.

We have invested, and in the future may invest, in new business strategies and acquisitions. Such endeavors may involve significant risks and uncertainties, including distraction of management from current operations, greater than expected liabilities and expenses, inadequate return on capital, and unidentified issues not discovered in our investigations and evaluations of those strategies and acquisitions. We may decide to make minority investments, including through joint ventures, in which we have limited or no management or operational control. The controlling person in such a case may have business interests, strategies or goals that are inconsistent with ours, and decisions of the company or venture in which we invested may result in harm to our reputation or adversely affect the value of our investment. Further, we may issue shares of our common stock in these transactions, which could result in dilution to our stockholders.