expedia and orbitz soaring so far today.hares of am ex after the company's merchant agreement with costco will end next year. amexhad been the only credit card accepted at costco stores. some discussion whether apple pay replaces it in some form down the line. >> costco is the only place we use our american express card regularly. it's like the reason why we kept it around. i wonder what amexdoes after this. i wonder do you get to use apple pay, are they going to take visa cards. do they do debit only? i don't know what costco does. from the consumer perspective this is a big deal to me. >> when we come back a meeting of the minds tomorrow as re/code's kara swisher sits down for an interview with none other than president obama. kara will joins us for a preview in a moment. house of cards accidentally hitting the web two weeks early. netflix's response to frank underwood's early debut. amy ps paschal speaking out after being more or less fired from her post at sony. dow up 56. "squawk alley" continues in a moment. in my worl

it made a bid for orbitz. it will take a vicious war among expedia, orbiz and priceline and create a truce and end of real price competition. trip adviser reported a jaw droppingly fabulous quarter at a people were fearing a travel industry slowdown related to the strong dollar. but with expedia and trip adviser used by billions of people to travel faster with applications that work best on cell phones. these two companies will dominate the $400 billion travel industry which is consolidating like mad. i bet they'll bust the expedia-orbitz tie-up. you can say hey guys listen.

expedia buying orbitz object $1.3 billion in cash.ning us live in a few minutes. >> shares of tesla down sharply in a good market this morning after disappointing fourth quarter figures. musk says he is optimistic. what do you do now with the stock? >> former treasury secretary larry summers said now is not the time to raise interest rates. >> let's first get to rick santelli. hey, rick? >> hi yes. december business inventory is important for calculations adjusting fourth quarter gdp up . 1%. we were looking for more. what's fascinating is we have had a couple of up .1. last time was in august but you have to go back to may of 2013 to find a lower month over month increase and the month i'm referencing was zero. you have to go all the way back to march of '13 to see a minus and this is definitely on the low side of the last you know in the top three lowest numbers over the last year and a half or so. so we definitely want to pay attention to the inventories because it does seem as though there was a surge mid year for the good gdp bus

orbitz is, politely put, a pretty weak asset.been ceding market shares for years. >> orbitz has a pretty small share single digit share. orbitz is, politely put, a pretty weak asset. it has been ceding market shares for years. cap: free economics are in the hotel market. you started a hotel business this is capturing a lot of trends. what is the trend that you see orbitz unwelcoming really having to deal with? >> it's a little self-serving but this shift to mobile is a big trend in every online business. the starting point still is google. that's where people go and historicically have gone to start their travel. in a mobile world though people are going directly to aps. that means brands are important, aps are important. that plays well to something like expedia that is gathering up all of these starting points. and it is a strength rests. in the case of expand yet -- expedia why wouldn't they invest in what they already have? >> i think there are other flavors of apps that resonate editor with consumers. we have carved out a re

it will buy orbitz for $1.3 billion. a few weeks ago our consumer team told you expedia was purchasing travelocity. >>> it sounds like a steal but united airlines will not honor tickets that sold for 51 bucks yesterday. the airline says it was the online vendor that made the mistake when it applied the incorrect currency exchange rate. >>> facebook received thousands of requests and now it is making a change to its policy that affects users in the after life. we told you about this last week and now the social media network will let you pick what's called a legacy contact. so a designated online heir will be able to make one last post after you pass away and that legacy contact with respond to new friend requests and update your cover and profile photos. >>> loved ones are ditching

hotwire, orbitz, cheap tickets.ere are a million different options. there's only two. priceline, booking.com and kayak. that's what they own. when you look at that, it's basically expedia versus priceline right now. right? >> yeah, in the united states that's definitely true. and also orbitz recently had e-bookers in europe. you had trip advisors that was spun out of expedia. you're talking about a huge number of some of the largest websites out there. you have cheap zero air out there. (?) so, yeah but you basically -- here's the problem, they are all brands of each other. some of them market to different segments. some of them market to different players. and you have basically one master company owning all that. it's the same thing that we had just gone through with airlines. now down to four airlines that control 80% of the traffic in the united states. this is a huge experiment. the funny thing, gerri orbitz was created to kill expedia. it was established in the late '90s and at the turn of the century because

orbitz, politely put, is a pretty weak asset. they are too heavily dependent on the u.s. market, too heavily dependent on the air market. >> the air market stinks in terms of what the airlines pay out. >> you don't make any money selling airline tickets. all the economics are in the hotel market. >> the smart thing would be to start a hotel business -- wait that is what you did with hoteltonight. what is the trap you see orbitz having to deal with? >> the shift to mobile is the big trend. the starting point for online travel, the largest is google. that is where people go to start their travel. in a mobile world, people are going directly to apps. that means brands are important. that place will to something like expedia is gathering all of the starting. >> in case of expedia, why wouldn't the app, why wouldn't that be the most successful thing they could be doing? >> they are investing in that but there are other places that people are going to. other flavors of apps that resonate better with people. we are the leaders in online travel. we have carved out a nice market i

expedia buying out orbitz. we're asking what this means for consumers. >>> plus how the tragic death of a toddler has led to a new effort now designed to protect abused children. >>> right now at 5:30 those winds are starting to whip up. the temperatures are plup etmmeting. >> we could see windchills near get this zero tonight, folks, and this will only be the fist punch of a bitter cold blast. >> 33 million people on the east coast are now under a windchill advisory. we have team coverage on this frigid plunge. it starts with our chief meteorologist, doug kammerer. make it stop! >> i'm nice and warm here. you saw amelia segal blowing out there in the wind. it ice definitely on the cold side. it has come down big time from just where we were a couple hours ago. 42 degrees the high temperature today, 41 back towards leesburg. here's the windchill now. as we look at it we're in the 20s. that windchill along the i-95 corridor. in the teens back towards winchester frederick, and hegenberger. one below in some parts

get rid of company costs for orbitz.e of the marketing systems, maybe some back end technology integration. they'll create multiple brands and execution risk here for expedia. this company now running 15 global brands. that's a lot and had execution errors in the past and the stock relatively rocky for three years. a great performing stock but had issues integrating the acquisitions. >> we have to run. >> this could trip them up. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> back tomorrow. time for "squawk on the street." ♪ >>> good thursday morning. i'm carl quintanilla la with jim cramer carl faber at the new york stock exchange. stocks are set for a bounce. greek deal falling apart for now. the so-called cease fire in ukraine. more earnings than we can count. the dow might see the highs for the quarter this morning. and then the 10-year around 2%. retail sales this morning were a disappointment. our road map begins with tesla. an unexpected fourth quarter loss.

what is the trend that you see orbitz having to unlock annoying -- having to deal with?shift to mobile is the big trend in all my business. the starting point for all my travel is google. that is where people go to start their travel. in the mobile world, people are going directly to apps bypassing google. that plays well to someone like expedia who is gathering up all of these starting points. >> in the case of expedia, why would an expedia at -- why wouldn't that be the most exact full -- successful thing they could be doing? lacks there are other things people are starting. there are other flavors of apps that resonate better with consumers. we have carved out a nice market for ourselves. >> from a design standpoint, you offer there a different services. expedia is like a smaller version of the website where you scroll her things. is designed an important -- scroll through things. his design an important aspect? >> when we started, we started with a clean slate. our back end, front end was reimagined and invented specifically for the mobile use case. it is very fast t

its latest acquisition, orbitz just a few weeks after buying travelocity. valued at more than a billion dollars taking on priceline. soared on the news as well as expedia. sigh simon hobbs looks at how this changes the global travel industry. >> reporter: orbitz is one of the smallest industries and would have struggled against the growing market of expedia and priceline who spent billions on advertising a new technology. so as the saying goes if you can't beat them join them. expedia already boasts 13 major brands. $1.6 billion in cash expedia ceo debra kor rashahi can add ebookers and hotel club. those four he said will be much more profitable once he's cut $75 million in cost and gives them access to expedia's big stockpile of hotel rooms for sale. >> we've got one of the broadest inventories out there and we think the complement to the bank program, we think that's a terrific combination. >> reporter: the c.o. bonnie is well respected. he's reinvigorated the business with better technology and a private label business essentially running the back office

new this morning, there's word travel web site expedia is buying its rival, orbitz. a month after expedia said it was buying travelocity. orbitz also owns cheap tickets and hotel clubs. expedia already owns hotwire and hotels.com. orbitz' shareholders, they still have to approve that deal. >>> to a very emotional, yet inspiring story out of portland oregon. the family of a girl dying from cancer fulfilled her wish by donating half of her savings to the organization that helped her in her battle. before ella died two years ago, she wrote a will, donating half of her life savings to the children's cancer association. it was $296.55. westerfield's parent say that the organization helped ella during her two- after-a-half year fight against cancer, and donating money is a great way to help an organization doing really important work. >>> all right. our time is 5:56. still ahead, a deadly shooting in san jose. why officers say they opened fire and the question a friend of the suspect is asking this. >> plus thousands of bart riders possibly exposed to measles. . >> we are

expedia and orbitz are now travel buddies. expedia buying orbitz for about $1 billion. expedia also bought travelocity a few weeks ago. >>> and sometimes it's okay to kick your dog? wait, wait. this is a robot dog designed by boston dynamics. a company owned by google. they want people to try and knock over spot just to show how well-balanced it is. by the way don't try it at home. >> it was 100 years ago at&t lines were used to complete the first transcontinental phone call, with cables stretching from new york to san francisco. things have changed a little since then. today at&t is the second largest mobile phone provider. randall stitch seen is the president and ceo, and with the president obama signing a bill about cybersecurity, i asked him about cyberthreats. >> it is a big issue with everything we've seen from home deep to sony. it is proving to be -- the issue is real now. and it's not just something that's a little bit of a problem, it's a make problem. not just for business but national security. i think the implications are that significant. and congress has

frankly we don't expect any today. >>> expedia is buying orbitz.continue to see consolidation here. expedia bought travelocity a month ago and owns hot wire and hotels.com. we were talking earlier just out of curiosity ran some of the san francisco hotels, so i ran sir francis drake through. i came up with the same rate no matter what. while we're seeing consolidation, i'm not sure you'll see a lot of changes in prices or anything. pretty much the same. >> and that's what their consumers want. >> well, it looks like they're all the same. >> point of the exercise. thank you very much, scott. >>> 6:57. one final check of the day's top stories. two san jose police officers are on paid administrative leave this morning. they shot and killed a man wh a knife who broke into a home on the outskirts ofdown. police say that man, when he was asked to drop the weapon, charged at them with a knife. >> russia and ukraine have reached a ceasefire deal starting this weekend. previous truces have fallen apart. the leaders say they will see this one through. >> the

expedia, $1.3 billion, expedia now has big control over the marketplace because with orbitz comes cheap tickets and hotel clubs and couple weeks ago also purchased travelocity. two big players in the online marketplace, expedia and priceline. the deal appears to be going through. orbitz shareholders still need sow to sign off on it. >>> and a new policy let's you designate a friend or family member on facebook to be your executor and manage your account when you're dead. all you have to do choose a legacy contact nap contact can respond to new friend requests update the cover and profile photos and archive your facebook posts and photos. until now when facebook verified a death, it memorialized the account, meaning it could be viewed but not edited. >>> a montana representative wants to make wearing yoga pants a crime. state representative david moore just introduced a bill that would tighten mont's indecent exposure law. banning any tight-fitting clothing like yoga pants. they could be sentenced five years in jail and have to pay a $5,000 fine. >>> this just in. a new plan to help the

orbitz trading close to the $12 low.pedia bought travelocity last month to better take on priceline, who is also a by 2%. american express taking a state -- biggest tumble in three and a half years, off by 6%. it is parting ways with costco the kart membership partnership agreement will be ended next year. analysts believe that this mix of it percent of the business and 12% of worldwide loans so this is something that is to be made up on the end of american express. a couple of earnings losers. tesla having its worst day in four months after posting an unexpected loss last quarter. deliveries and missed estimates in part due to bad weather. and tzu lily tumbling 10% -- zoolily tumbling 10%. fourth quarter outlook missed and the ceo resigned. >> thank you, scarlett. new york's top financial regulator is widening his investigation into currency manipulation at things. -- banks. several banks are under review. the investigator leading the investigation is superintendent of financial services ben lawsky . good to see you. wh

. >> the dow jones on the online travel industry, which is a big deal today, expedia by orbitz or $1.4his you will see all of this across the board and hitting high orbitz -- what is also worth noting is that they are up 22%. when i talk to talked to dan at morningstar, he said that analysts there say it's a good deal it makes sense. and in fact because together they will continue to grow and expedia will see revenue margins actually start to expand. there is so much growth potential in the industry from the emerging market to try to book other things online like restaurants and tours and attractions. he thinks consolidation of the industry could continue. melissa: thank you so much. check out crude oil settling $2.37, almost 5% 4.85% 5121, big move in crude oil today and keeping an eye on that. the boys are back in just a few months, the hit show entourage making its big debut. one of the stars is kick starting a campaign. adrian grenier joins us now. it's called the lonely whale. i saw you running with a t-shirt on that says why is he so lonely? >> the scientists are trying to figure

the ceo of the target orbitz is well-respected.r two years, he's managed to reinvigorate or bitz with better technology and private brand business, like ammex travel. without the market of expedia and to bid in realtime he went for a trade sale. >> people may have tried to write us off in the past but they continue ongoing growth showing through. >> what remains of travelosity for $280 million, and trivago cost over 6 00 million, and priceline deals are bigger open table for 2.4 billion andkayak, and expedia's ceo rejects the idea that there's a lack of competition, or that the regulators should get involved. >> millions of millions of people go directly to american airlines, hilton directly. google is in the game trip adviser, so we compete in a much larger segment in general, and there's lots of competition for that top audience. >> in the meantime the ceo of expedia promises all 17 brands will operate with an independence, so you'll still get a deal he says even if they are all owned by the same company. brian, over to you. >> a

it made a bid for orbitz. it will take a vicious war among expedia, orbiz and priceline and create a truce and end of real price competition. trip adviser reported a jaw droppingly fabulous quarter at a people were fearing a travel industry slowdown related to the strong dollar. but with expedia and trip adviser used by billions of people to travel faster with applications that work best on cell phones. these two companies will dominate the $400 billion travel industry which is consolidating like mad. i bet they'll bust the expedia-orbitz tie-up. you can say hey guys listen. going. >> caller: google can come in here and wreck us tomorrow. any company can claim there is plenty of competition and it works. you have a consolidated industry that is based on connectivity and data agragation. social, mobile and cloud. all the super growth themes i have preached endlessly to you as being among the most important pillars of this major run. how about another major pillar whole foods. there is a company that some say st

ex-pead ya is buying travel site orbitz. it also has brands like cheap tickets and hotel clubs.n january expedia acquired another rival travelocity. >>> for all intents and purposes an ongoing labor dispute will shut down west coast ports until tuesday. they didn't call workers to unload ships. contract talks between docks and workers hit an impasse. all but paralyzing ports that handle about one quarter of the u.s. international trade. >>> president obama is creating a buzz. the president teamed up with "buzzfeed" to make a video undering people to sign up for health care. mr. obama stands in front of a mirror sticks out his tongue uses a selfie stick and draw as picture of the first lady. as of this morning the video had been viewed by more than 18 million times. >>> and "fifty shades of grey" opens nationwide today but it's not without controversy. the movie, based on the mega-selling novel faces masochism and is drawing attention of domestic violence and religious groups. they're asking people to donate $50 to a women's shelter instead of seeing the film. >> certainly a cont

expedia buying orbitz for about $1 billion. and also bought travelosity. >> this is a robot dog designed by boston dynamics. a company owned by google. they want people to try and knock over spot just to show how well-balanced it is. by the way don't try it at home. >> it was 100 years ago at&t lines were used to complete the first phone call, with cables stretching from new york to san francisco. things have changed a little since then. today at&t is the second largest phone supplier. and i asked president obaishish about. >> it is a big issue with everything we've seen from home deep to sony. it is proving to be -- the issue is real now. and it is not justing? a little pit of a problem. as the major problem. not just for business but national security. think the implicationings are that significant. and congress has been talking about this. and the president has been working this issue for quite some time. and we don't feel like we're much closerser a solution for addressing this than we were a couple of years ago. and the co

expedia is buying orbitz for $1.3 billion after acquiring travelocity last month. the other major player is the much larger priceline group. but both expedia and priceline are being challenged by new competitors including google as well as the airlines and hotels themselves. >>> and are you still waiting? i'm sure though you've already gotten your valentine's day taken care of but for a couple of you if you're still waiting to get chocolate for someone special going to be spending a little more than last year. chocolate has become more expensive because the price of its main ingredient cocoa has soared. the main why increased demand for chocolate especially dark chocolate, your favorite sara i do believe. that demand has increased across asia and in particular china. >> because i the healthy chocolate. we went over this. >> yes. >> and wine as well is healthy. >> agree. >>> when we come back a man is buried in snow after an avalanche. the desperate race to save his life caught on camera. >>> plus getting goofy. yes, that's the president, the serious reason though f

expedia has agreed to buy orbitz for $12 a share. that represents a 25% premium to orbitz closing price yesterday. the deal hasn't an enterprise value of $1.6 billion. expedia recently bought travelocity last month. there were three winning tickets in the giant powerball lottery jackpot. the winners will split $564 million. the winning tickets were sold in north carolina, texas, and puerto rico. it is the fifth-largest u.s. lottery prize ever. whenever i fill in for erik i feel like i really need to -- da-vos. i was in the office pool. >> there was an office full -- pool? i was not in it? >> it was that side of the office. >> we are going to move on because my feelings are hurt. we are going to take a deeper dive into the cease-fire in ukraine. ryan chilcote, i'm not sure if he was in the pool. he is in london and peter cook has reaction from the white house. ryan, this does not mean the crisis is over correct? >> no, it is just a first debt. it sort of agrees three simple things. a cease-fire that kicks off on saturday night at midn

expedia says it will buy rival orbitz for about $1.3 billion. just a few weeks ago expedia said it is buying travelocity. >> this could give expedia more power to negotiate with airlines hotels, rental cars. that does mean better deals. >> whole foods could finally be shaking its whole paycheck reputation. the upscale supermarket has cut prices, as it tries to rework its image. whole foods says profits jumped in the last quarter after more than a year of slowing sales. >> and now way to solve the age old problem heat up food in the mike wave and realize on your third bite half of it is still cold. well former nasa engineer developed a new kind of microwave with thermal vision, use as infrared camera to watch the food as it cooks and then let you know when your entire meal is ready he's actually trying to raise some money to mass produce that microwave. brilliant. >> oh, the first bite is fantastic, then ugh. >> brilliant. >> i love it. >> just like soup, i love heat it up, my third spoonful and it is cold. not fun. >> tv dinner's, bird's eye? >>

consolidation in the online travel industry -- expedia has agreed to buy orbitz for $12 a share, a 25%um to their closing price yesterday. it has an enterprise value of about $1.6 billion. just last month, expedia. travelocity. that's a look at the top stories we are following this hour. the u.s. government has pledged to reduce the case of -- cases of measles in the country to 30 or fewer in next five-year's years compared to 600 last year. the director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases one of the 26 institutes of the national institutes join me -- joins me from bethesda, maryland. thank you for your time. is the measles making a comeback in the united states just 15 years after was declared eradicated or is what we are witnessing a medical anomaly? >> i hope it is going to turn out to be just an anomaly, but there is a reason for the synonymy -- this anomaly and that is the growing number of parents who for one reason or another did not have their children vaccinated against measles. it was a bad year last year and as you mentioned with 23 outbreaks and ove

what is the trap you see orbitz having to deal with? >> the shift to mobile is the big trend. the starting point for online travel, the largest is google. that is where people go to start their travel. in a mobile world, people are going directly to apps. that means brands are important. that place will to something like expedia is gathering all of the starting. >> in case of expedia, why wouldn't the app why wouldn't that be the most successful thing they could be doing? >> they are investing in that but there are other places that people are going to. other flavors of apps that resonate better with people. we are the leaders in online travel. we have carved out a nice market is for ourselves and we are growing fast. >> from a design standpoint, you offer a different type of service. expedia is like a smaller version of the website where you have to pick dates and scroll through stuff. these design an important part of that? these design a business impediment or expedia? >> i think their legacy business is an impediment for the we started with a clean slate. the front and bac

expedia and orbitz. $1.2 million deal. the whole thing jumped.hey expect more consolidation in the industry. last, but not alast, but not le, american express comes under pressure as it terminates its deal with costco. great day overall. charles: golly, so confident. here to help the investment pros. paul diedrich. ceo chief investment officer. ceo and chief investment officer came back on a good day, paul. we have a new guy who we've been trying to get for a long time. matt vetto. hilary kramer. of a&g capital. hitha herzog is with us. retail sales are out. we'll need help to go through those. and matt mccaul founder and president of penn financials group. huge, huge day. got me tongue-tied. let's dig into the first real, real deal. the market got a lift from geopolitical news. it wasn't the greece news we were looking for. it wasn't greece who came to the consensus. maybe vladimir putin now, whether you believe this whole orchestrated cease-fire will hold or not, i think it was a pleasant valentine's day gift to humanity. for a moment, it looke

we are talking about expedia buying orbitz at $1.3 billion deal combining would giants of online travelnd air fares a move after expedia bought travelocredit all trades in the green is far despite january retail sales. we are nonnot taking our money we are saving at at the bass stump and going shopping but are pay-as-you-go down debt. >> now, the i.r.s. fraud desection systemsor outdated. >> whole food oned nine new stores and though do see room to open 1200 more stores in the united states in the coming years. the best day to by a plane ticket is 47 days before the flight according for cheap air look at five million trips in 15,000 cities and the company found when you buy the ticket make as huge difference and ticket prices change an average of 70's times over 11 months. san francisco has the best tippers in the nation with bartenders and wait staff earning $15.50 an hour in tips and locally service workers made half the income from tips. >>> valentine's day is around the corner and if you are looking for love, this could help. >> a survey revealed the top ways love birds meet. the nu

. >>> it's a mega merger in the travel industry, expedia announced it is buying its rival orbitz. it's worth $1.6 billion, they get all their brands including cheap tickets and e club and they control hotelshotels.com and travelosity another rival they bought last month. >>> as you know punxsutawney phil is one of the most famous weather prognosticators in the world and now they have issued a warn for phil's arrest they did not mind phil seeing his shadow meaning six more weeks of winter but phil did not mention the enormous amounts of snow and for that he should be punished. merrimack and the rest of new england have seen record snowfall this winter and a lot of people may agree with that. >> it's perfect timing because now we get to ask adam joseph in the accuweather forecast what he thinks about this. >> have you ever done jail time? >> no and i hope i never did. he better hide because they are expecting another nor'easter and blizzard for boston and into maine saturday into sunday. more rain and snow showers off the coast an arctic front that will blast dangerous windchills fo

. >> new high for expedia, orbitz, whole group. trip advisor. there may be more consolidation.osing bell ringing] >> charles barkley. david: this is fun day for traders. seen more spectacular rallies. more triple digits on the dow. well into the green. start at very bottom. the russell 2000. that is about a one .25% gain on the russell. small and mid-sized stocks doing just as well as big guys. dow jones industrial up 106. looks like we'll not be breaking any records. very close to it. only two or three points away on the s&p 500. but not beating some records, individual stocks are beating records. we have apple. we have home depot. we have a number of stocks hitting all-time highs today. very big day on the market. "after the bell," starts right now.

we'll never make travelocity or orbitz. >> man. >> okay? one. >> we'll show you to your room, but we won't put a mint on your pillow. >> joseph giroux is also unhappy with the sparse accommodations of his segregation cell and has asked to move to general population. awaiting trial on 14 charges related to an alleged crime spree that ended with his arrest inside a tulsa casino with a loaded shotgun, he could be in jail for a while. he's already spent 17 years of his life in prison on various drug convictions and accessory to murder. he doesn't have a lot to show for it except for the tattoos he acquired there. >> says "white pride." i've got like a bunch of demon faces filling it all in, just like a collage. pretty much skulls and demons. >> but a neck tattoo carries a different message. >> cut my throat one time and i just filled it in, colored the scar in and branded, basically, "jesus saves" on my neck. more of a reminder to me when i looked in the mirror every day. >> giroux's tattoos might represent opposing forces in his life, but he s

the combination that orbitz is super stylish and trip advisor last week. how strong is the travel concept? for a good man to lose his job. i'm talking about how adam aaron, another favorite of mine took over the ceo job at starwood hotels. a frequent guest here on mad money had a long-term vision about returning value to shareholders. last week he announced he's spinning off the company's timeshare business. i was thrilled. it wasn't enough for the board that wants immediate action to keep up with the growth in the rest of the industry which has been phenomenal. they have been growing much faster and now he is cast his interim ceo to play catch up. then the defense stocks. this group is able to do no wrong whatsoever and the rise of isis made it so every country feels the need for more military hardware. lockheed martin general dynamics and harris which just brought our fav exelis last week. they're regarding as the arsenal of democracies and dictatorships against the religious fanatics. it means war orders for the companies. then the organic and natural f

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expedia is buying orbitz for $1.3 billion after acquiring travelocity last month. other major player in on-line booking is the priceline group. both expedia and priceline are challenged by google as well as the airlines and hotels themselves. >>> tax time has arrived. there's a new warning for those getting an early start on filing. >> thieves are using your social security number for fraudulent returns using popular software gio benitez has a warning for you. >> reporter: turbo tax, the do-it-yourself tax software and website used by 29 million americans last year now targeted by scammers. filing thousands of fake returns with other people's info to steal their refund. >> these scams can be common around tax season. because it's a loot of money out there that scammers can get. >> reporter: the fbi is launching an investigation in to haugh fraudsters got social security numbers to file bogus state returns including through turbo tax which temporarily suspended state filings last week after discovering the problem. but parent company intuit warning of phishing scams

. >>> expedia is going to buy orbitz. the deal is valued at $1.6 billion.veral other travel sites. only priceline made a move to expand outside the travel space buying up open table last year. >>> and when someone dies, friends and family now often turn to facebook to remember them and share stories. but until now, facebook automatically memorialized those accounts allowing them to be viewed but virtually frozen. today the social network will allow you to add a legacy contact to manage your account after you die. post a message to be displayed at the top of the page, respond to new friend requests from family members, and even updates your profile picture. now, you can also choose to allow your legacy contact to download and archive your photos. facebook also gives you an option to delete the account altogether after death if you so choose. remember, if you have a consumer story idea, give us a call at 888-5-helps-u. >> thank you. >>> the outlets in livermore are getting a new name again and the choice may seem a bit odd. when the mall opened in 2012 it was

they say they will buy rival orbitz for $1.3 billion.t a few weeks ago expedia said it was buying travelocity. analysts say that this could give expedia more power to negotiate with airlines, hotels and rental car agencies and that could mean better customer deals. millions of costco shoppers will soon be putting away the american express card. an exclusive deal between amex and costco expires in march of 2016. so far they have not agreed on terms to renew. american express the stock has tumbled on news of this because costco cards account for roughly one in 10 amex cards that are now in circulation. frank and michelle? >> jill, i guess valentine's day is tomorrow and, of course, all the sweethearts going to love that and some companies are kind of cashing in, too. but in a different way. tell us about that. >> reporter: yeah. apparently there are many heartbroken and perhaps bitter people out there who are not necessarily looking for love on valentine's day. so there's one website cuddle up to me and that offers professional snuggle ses

after this share completely collapsed, expedia recovered all that lost ground when they took over orbitzok at that move, 15% in the last 24 hours. yelp played the same card. acquisition of 824. 7 million in cash. 1.4 million in common stock. then also on wednesday, righrite aid, they want to get back in the pharmacy benefits business. gave it back in 2001 when they had trouble. rite aid used mostly cash. 1.8 billion in cash. the rest in shares. look at that huge move. and i didn't get back on the weakness. i was watching it. and, of course, president obama's favorite office supply store, staples this stock has been soaring after talking about a possible merger with office depot. finally it came true. we actually have a roll-up of the three former top players because you have to include office max here. how do we now find a broken name looking to return to former glory via acquisitions. all right, guys a lot of beaten down names, but they have cash. maybe they'll put it to work. let's talk about the next real, real deal here. i was really shocked and at the same time very impressed on how

expedia is buying its rival orbitz. this gives expedia access to the brand as well as other brands like cheap tickets and hotel club. the portfolio already includes hotels.com and hot wire. some new developments in plans to close a big part of interstate 395 in the district. the bottom line here it's not going to happen. crews are from d street in northeast, they are starting to put equipment in place. full project to create three new city blocks with 2.2 million square feet of mixed use development will hit full stride coming up this summer. all right. let's get a check on how our traffic is shaping up today with bob emler in the wtop traffic center. hi, bob. >> hi there, alison. on 66 traveling westbound just volume delays headed out. sunshine not much of a factor anymore now that the sun has set. still plenty of volume out towards centreville. inner loop out of tysons heaviest from 123 headed to 270 and eastbound 66 into falls church does bog down a bit as well. route 1 to the occoquan and headed south from quantico

it's buying rival orbitz for $1.3 billion.a few weeks after expedia bought travelocity for $280 million. couple of key economic reports in today. the labor department reports that first time unemployment claims surged higher by 25,000 to 304,000 although the four- week average is down a little bit just under 290,000. claims still averaging a little below 300,000 which is a good sign. sort a worrisome note. retail sales in january down .8%. a big reason was the drop in gas prices. gas sales down over 9% although we did see a decline in auto sales. still that decline came after a nearly 1% drop in retail sales in december. not seeing a whole lot of those gas savings being passed on to retailers at the moment. two big earnings reports in the bay area, one a winner cisco shares up 9% in the early going. tesla failed to meet delivery goals losses more than $100 million in the 4th quarter its shares down 8%. take a look at the big board see how we're doing in the early stages of the session. the dow is up by about 44 points. nasdaq