Expedia Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPE) will acquire a majority stake in Trivago, a European travel website, for $629 million.

Dusseldorf-based Trivago is a metasearch company that conducts more than 100 million annual hotel searches. The company expects to have about $131.86 million in revenue for 2012.

Expedia is an online travel company. Its brands include Hotels.com, Hotwire, and Classic Vacations. The deal was announced Dec. 21.

Expedia will buy 61.6 percent of Trivago for $572 million in cash and about $57 million in stock. The deal is subject to regulatory approval.

In November, travel website Priceline Group announced it would buy Kayak Software Corp. (Nasdaq: KYAK) in a deal valued at $1.8 billion. Kayak allows users to compare prices for flights, rental cars and hotels. Priceline also assists users in comparing prices for flights and hotels, as well as cruises. 

Technology