Sources said that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is discussing a potential acquisition of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based travel program maker, ITA Software, Inc, which has created such programs for Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:OWW) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT).
It is rumored that ITA Software may ask for $1 billion from Google, though unidentified sources say that the negotiations are still in the development stage and might not even take place.
Google could potentially benefit from ITA Software tools that track and find flight information online, allowing Google to directly compete with Microsoft's similar search offering.
"Google's mission is to organize the world's information, and ITA does that for travel," said Forrester Research Inc. analyst Henry Harteveldt.
Google is trading up 0.23% at $556.30.
