WASHINGTON-The Justice Department granted antitrust clearance on Wednesday to Expedia Inc.’s $1.3 billion takeover of rival online travel agent Orbitz Worldwide Inc., saying the deal was unlikely to hurt competition.

Expedia stock is up 0.94% to $125.85 in after-hours trading.

Bill Baer, the department’s antitrust chief, said the department investigated concerns raised by third parties about the deal.

Expedia Inc. agreed to buy Orbitz Worldwide Inc.in February. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed – some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The government’s investigation focused on the commissions Expedia and Orbitz negotiate with airlines, vehicle rental companies and hotels.

The merger of content between the online travel agencies Expedia and Orbitz gives the combined entity about three-fourths of the United States domestic market for reservations made through online travel agencies, says Phocuswright, the research firm. The American Hotel & Lodging Association said Expedia and Price will control 95 percent of US online travel bookings. “In the past 18 months for example, the industry has seen the introduction of TripAdvisor’s Instant Booking service and Google’s Hotel and Flight Finder with related booking functionality, ” the Justice Department said. “At the end of this process, however, we concluded that the acquisition is unlikely to harm competition and consumers”.