Europe's second-highest court upheld the EU Commission's antitrust veto of Booking Holdings' €1.63 billion ETraveli acquisition, permanently blocking the U.S. travel platform's expansion into European flight booking and reinforcing the EU's strict scrutiny of tech consolidation.
Europe's second-highest court on Wednesday sided with EU antitrust regulators who blocked Booking Holdings' €1.63 billion ($1.9 billion) ETraveli acquisition three years ago, permanently closing the U.S. travel platform's path into the European flights market.
The Luxembourg-based General Court rejected Booking's arguments that the Commission had not followed its own merger rules and had applied an incorrect legal standard. Judges said the Commission "found, correctly" that acquiring ETraveli — Europe's leading online flight booking operator — would have strengthened Booking's already dominant position in the market for online travel agencies in the hotel sector.
"We're incredibly disappointed. We disagree with the outcome and remain firmly of the view that the Commission's assessment was wrong, both on the facts and on the law," a Booking spokesperson said. "We are reviewing the judgment and a possible appeal to the European Court of Justice."
The ruling ends a three-year legal battle over a deal that would have given Booking a leading position in flight aggregation across Europe. ETraveli, a Swedish company owned by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, operates Gotogate and Mytrip and provides airline content distribution through TripStack. Booking's brands include Booking.com, Rentalcars, Priceline and Agoda.
The Commission blocked the transaction in 2023 on the grounds that it would create a travel ecosystem for Booking that rivals could not match. The General Court's endorsement reflects the EU enforcer's broader scrutiny of "killer acquisitions," where dominant firms buy smaller competitors to eliminate rivalry or extend market power into adjacent segments. The Commission has intensified this review of tech deals in recent years, and Wednesday's ruling confirms the courts will back that approach.
For Booking, the loss of ETraveli removes a key growth vector in flight booking, where rivals such as Expedia and other online travel agencies have been expanding. The company's stock may face pressure as investors price in the permanent loss of that expansion route. Booking said it is reviewing the judgment and may appeal to the European Court of Justice, the EU's top court. However, ECJ appeals in merger cases are limited to points of law rather than the Commission's factual assessment, and the General Court's full endorsement of the Commission's reasoning narrows the grounds for reversal.
The ruling also carries implications beyond Booking. It signals that the EU will continue to scrutinize consolidation by large U.S. online platforms, even when the target operates in an adjacent rather than directly competing market. The Commission's approach to tech M&A — treating dominance in one segment as a risk factor for expansion into related ones — is now firmly established in case law. Companies considering acquisitions in Europe must weigh the risk that deals strengthening an existing dominant position could face prohibition, regardless of whether the target competes head-to-head.
The case, T-1139/23 Booking Holdings v Commission, now moves toward a potential final appeal. For the broader tech sector, the decision reinforces that the EU's structural approach to platform regulation extends beyond enforcement actions against existing practices into the merger review process itself.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
