Microsoft Acquires Farecast For $115M

Farecast.com has been acquired by Microsoft for $115 Million. Farecast is an airfare prediction website that uses it’s own algorithm’s to help predict the best time to purchase airline tickets. The company was founded in 2003 by Oren Etzioni, which is also the founder of MetaCrawler and is a professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington. According to Wikipedia, the site has collected over 175 billion airfare observations to date.  Microsoft will most likely integrate Farecast’s services into its own barrage of networks and online content.  For example they may utilize Windows Spaces or Windows Live to help advertise the service.