Shatner as Priceline Negotiator: Spokesman Helps Shares Rise 70 Percent to $1,000
The Priceline negotiator can do more than negotiate. He also adds impressive value to the company.
William Shatner has helped Priceline to reach a never before record on the Standard & Poor as the company's stock value soared to a $1,000 a member share last week. The former "Star Trek" actor, who serves as the spokesperson for Priceline, was brought back one year ago following his commercial "death" and a 7-month hiatus.
In the same year of Shatner's return, Priceline shares have gone up more than 70 percent, according to CNBC.
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"Priceline's comeback is almost as remarkable as Shatner's," Simon Baker of Baker Avenue Asset Management told the news company. "Their recent blowout numbers were particularly impressive. Crank the dial to 1,000 and 'Beam me up Scotty.'"
An earning's report last week revealed that the company's net income had jumped by 24 percent, sending the cost of shares skyrocketing. Within the company, travel bookings increased 38 percent and international travel jumped 44 percent over the period. For five quarters in a row, the company has seen a growth rate of 40 to 45 percent, Piper Jaffray told CNBC.
Priceline spokesman Brian Ek noted last year, before Shatner's character was killed off, that the "Star Trek" actor would continue to stay on contract with the company.
"We only killed off the negotiator," Ek toll CNN Money in 2013. "William Shatner is still under contract."
Before his death, Shatner also expressed that he had no idea how the company planned to kill of his character.
"They're leaving me on the same cliffhanger you're on," he said. "They're careful to mention that I still have a contract."
Ek said early on that killing off the Priceline negotiator was a strategy attempt to garner more attention to the company.
"All advertising is an attempt to bring attention to their product," Ek told CNN. "I know that's the case. It's a matter of good business."
