US travel and technology group Sabre Holdings agreed to buy Britain's Lastminute.com for £577 million (€844 million) today to combine with its Travelocity online business.
Sabre said it was paying 165p a share in cash for the former darling of the dot.com boom, some 57 per cent above Lastminute's closing price on Tuesday, the day before the British firm said it had received a bid approach.
"We expect this combination would provide us with greater opportunity to profit from the fast-growing European online segment," Sabre Chairman Sam Gilliland said today.
An icon of the Internet boom, online travel and leisure retailer Lastminute.com was hit hard by the bursting of the technology bubble and the ensuing economic downturn as customers cut back on travel.
It has long been tipped as a takeover target, as the survivors of the dot.com crash looked to build global brands.
US group Cendant Corp agreed to buy Lastminute's British rival Ebookers last year.