Expedia began inside Microsoft as a CD-ROM travel guide.
In 1994 Rich Barton, 27, was building Microsoft an Encarta for travel when he learned the systems travel agents booked on could be reached electronically, but only by insiders. He pitched Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer on opening them to everyone. When Expedia went live in 1996, the American Society of Travel Agents said there might be a few do-it-yourselfers, but most people “think their time is too valuable.”
Expedia on Brandseum