Priceline Buys OpenTable for $2.6 Billion

It's an intriguing move by the Norwalk, Conn.-based parent firm of Priceline.com, bringing together two major e-commerce brands from different hospitality niches and opposites sides of the country. OpenTable is headquartered in San Francisco.

Priceline, like so many Web companies in the last few years, has unsuccessfully treaded on Groupon's daily deals turf with discounts from local restaurants. So whether OpenTable will renew Priceline's interest in local eatery deals—by increasing the former's relatively modest initiative in that space—will be worth observing.

At the very least, with the OpenTable pickup, Priceline Group gets back into the restaurant game and diversifies its portfolio of consumer services.