Basis of Presentation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Basis of Presentation

Note 1 – Basis of Presentation

Description of Business

Expedia, Inc. and its subsidiaries provide travel products and services to leisure and corporate travelers in the United States and abroad as well as various media and advertising offerings to travel and non-travel advertisers. These travel products and services are offered through a diversified portfolio of brands including: Expedia.com^®, Hotels.com^®, Hotwire.com™, Expedia^® Affiliate Network, Classic Vacations, Expedia Local Expert, Egencia™, Expedia^® CruiseShipCenters^®, eLong™, Inc. (“eLong”) and Venere Net SpA (“Venere”). In addition, many of these brands have related international points of sale. We refer to Expedia, Inc. and its subsidiaries collectively as “Expedia,” the “Company,” “us,” “we” and “our” in these consolidated financial statements.

TripAdvisor Spin-Off

On December 20, 2011, following the close of trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, we completed the spin-off of TripAdvisor, Inc. (“TripAdvisor”), which consisted of the domestic and international operations previously associated with our TripAdvisor Media Group, to Expedia stockholders. We refer to this transaction as the “spin-off.” Immediately prior to the spin-off, Expedia effected a one-for-two reverse stock split. Accordingly, the results of operations, financial condition and cash flows of TripAdvisor have been presented as discontinued operations for all periods presented. Further, all Expedia common stock share information and related per share amounts in prior periods have been adjusted to reflect Expedia’s one-for-two reverse stock split.

Basis of Presentation

These accompanying financial statements present our results of operations, financial position and cash flows on a consolidated basis. The unaudited consolidated financial statements include Expedia, Inc., our wholly-owned subsidiaries, and entities we control, or in which we have a variable interest and are the primary beneficiary of expected cash profits or losses. We have eliminated significant intercompany transactions and accounts.

We have prepared the accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) for interim financial reporting. We have included all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of the results of the interim period. These adjustments consist of normal recurring items. Our interim unaudited consolidated financial statements are not necessarily indicative of results that may be expected for any other interim period or for the full year. These interim unaudited consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and related notes included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Accounting Estimates

We use estimates and assumptions in the preparation of our interim unaudited consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP. Our estimates and assumptions affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities as of the date of our interim unaudited consolidated financial statements. These estimates and assumptions also affect the reported amount of net income during any period. Our actual financial results could differ significantly from these estimates. The significant estimates underlying our interim unaudited consolidated financial statements include revenue recognition; recoverability of current and long-lived assets, intangible assets and goodwill; income and indirect taxes, such as potential settlements related to occupancy taxes; loss contingencies; loyalty program liabilities; stock-based compensation and accounting for derivative instruments.

Reclassifications

We have reclassified certain amounts related to our prior period results to conform to our current period presentation.

Seasonality

We generally experience seasonal fluctuations in the demand for our travel products and services. For example, traditional leisure travel bookings are generally the highest in the first three quarters as travelers plan and book their spring, summer and holiday travel. The number of bookings typically decreases in the fourth quarter. Because revenue in our merchant business is generally recognized when the travel takes place rather than when it is booked, revenue typically lags bookings by several weeks or longer. The seasonal revenue impact is exacerbated with respect to income by the more stable nature of our fixed costs. As a result, revenue and income are typically the lowest in the first quarter and highest in the third quarter.