Bellvue, Wash.-based travel site operation Expedia Inc.has rescheduled a
shareholder meeting to vote on its merger with a subsidiary of USA Networks
Inc.
The vote had
been delayed when Paris-based Vivendi Universalagreed to a
$10.3 billion deal with USA Networksin a move aimed at
improving distribution of the French media giant’s music and movies.
Expedia said the shareholder meeting will be reconvened Feb. 4 for a vote on
the deal that it said “will leave Expedia surviving as a public company
controlled by USA.”
The Dec. 17 Expedia annual shareholders’ meeting was adjourned based on
USA’s
announcement that it had entered into a deal with Vivendi under which USA
would contribute its entertainment businesses to a joint venture that would
also hold the businesses of Universal Studios Group.
There are no changes in the terms of the Expedia/USA transaction as
described
in Expedia’s proxy statement dated Nov. 13, 2001.