Ceo Journal

China has been unkind to the U.S. Internet giants Google, Facebook and Amazon.com. But as a growing China spurs demand for foreign travel, Darren Huston a smaller player—Priceline Group—is trying to change the narrative. Rather than going head to head with homegrown Chinese sites, Priceline has invested more than $1 billion (via convertible debt and equity) in local travel site Ctrip, spent advertising money with search services like Baidu and Qunar to capture consumer clicks, and opened 11 offices in the country. That’s helped brighten Priceline’s outlook, pushing its stock up 13 percent in the past month and within about 6 percent of its all-time high from early 2014. (The stock has slid this week, including a 1.2 percent on Tuesday, after China surprisingly devalued its currency, raising concerns about future growth.) “Travel is such a huge business in China right now,” said Glenn Fogel, head of worldwide strategy at Norwalk, Connecticut-based Priceline. “As countries deve