Expedia posts quarterly profit on bookings growth

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Expedia Inc, the largest U.S. online travel agency, on Thursday posted a quarterly net profit on a 16 percent increase in bookings.

The company said its second-quarter profit amounted to $96.1 million, or 33 cents per share, compared with $96.1 million, or 30 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, Expedia earned 40 cents per share, compared with 39 cents per share expected by Wall Street analysts, according to Reuters Estimates.

The company said total bookings were $5.93 billion, an increase of 16 percent over the year-ago period. North American bookings increased 10 percent, while European bookings were up 30 percent.

Expedia Chairman Barry Diller said in a statement the company intends to expand its worldwide reach. Expedia competes with Priceline.com and Orbitz Worldwide for bookings.

Those companies are in a race to increase their global operations as bookings growth in the United States levels off.

(Reporting by Kyle Peterson, editing by Maureen Bavdek)