Orbitz Shares Soar, Then Drop

Shares of Orbitz got off to a fast start as the online-travel site began life as a publicly traded company--but have quickly came back to earth.

The IPO opened Wednesday at $26 a share--higher than the projected offering price range of $22 to $24--and quickly surged to $30.75. But Orbitz' share price ended Wednesday at $24.98 and continued to decline Thursday, closing at $23.01

The stock's activity generated more than casual interest, because the IPO market for technology companies has been in the doldrums for the past few years in the wake of the collapse of the technology stock market bubble. The fact that Orbitz could go public heartened technology investors.

Orbitz is 70% owned by a group of U. S. airlines, which set up the Internet reservations company to compete with Web-travel firms like Expedia and Travelocity. Most of the airline tickets sold through Orbitz come from its owner-airlines, including AMR's American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, and United Airlines.