"Airline Debates Commissions, Facebook Gets Funds"

STEVE INSKEEP, Host:

NPR's business news starts with a battle over airline tickets.

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INSKEEP: American Airlines will no longer list flights on the Internet travel site Expedia. American has also stopped using Orbitz to sell flights. It's part of an effort to drive Web traffic and sales directly to American's own website. American has also been feuding with Expedia over the commissions the airline has to pay for flights sold through that website.

RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:

The money comes from investment bank Goldman Sachs and a Russian investment firm. The venture comes amid ongoing talks that Facebook is preparing for a public stock offering and the deal is based on an estimate that Facebook is worth about $50 billion. That makes for social networking site more valuable than eBay or Time Warner.