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Booking Holdings takes $900 million hit to quarterly revenue linked to FTC action

Reuters

Nov 3 (Reuters) - Priceline parent ‌Booking Holdings said on Tuesday it recorded a $900 million reduction in ​revenue and ‌accrued a loss of $100 million related ‌to an FTC action involving its subsidiary's connection to deceptive hotel ads.

As a result, ‌the online travel agency's third-quarter revenue declined 1% year-over-year. Shares of the company were down 2.4% in extended trading.

Booking disclosed in August ⁠that the FTC was considering suing Priceline and ‌an affiliate over disclosures, ⁠fees, customer support and billing practices. The company ​previously said it was in talks with the FTC to resolve the matter.    ​The FTC had been looking into ​Priceline's ‌relationship with Guest Reservations, a third-party website that ​advertises stays at specific hotels. Priceline ⁠supplies hotel room inventory to ‌Guest Reservations ​through Priceline Partner Solutions, ​according to an ongoing lawsuit against the companies filed by San Francisco.

The Norwalk, Connecticut-based company posted a profit per share of $4.66 for ‌the third quarter, compared with $3.98 per share in the year-ago period.

Total revenue for the ‌quarter ​ended September 30 came in at $8.89 billion, compared to about $9 billion a year earlier.

(Reporting by Anshuman Tripathy in Bengaluru and Doyinsola Oladipo ‌in New York; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)