Expedia announced that it’s separating from TripAdvisor to form two seaprate companies. This has already been approved by the Board of Directors. Both companies will be publicly traded.
TripAdvisor will include domestic and international operations associated with the TripAdvisor Media Group. This includes the TripAdvisor brand, as well as 18 other travel media and advertising brands.
Expedia will continue to include the domestic and international operations of the company’s travel transaction brands, which include: Expedia.com, Hotels.com, eLong, Hotwire, Egencia, Expedia Affiliate Network, CruiseShipCenters, Venere, Classic Vacations and carrentals.com.
The announcement says:
It is anticipated that the transaction will take the form of a distribution of stock of TripAdvisor to Expedia stockholders or a reclassification of Expedia stock, with the holders of Expedia stock receiving a proportionate amount of TripAdvisor stock, in either case in a tax free transaction. It is expected that Expedia’s dual-class equity capital structure and the governance arrangements between Barry Diller and Liberty Media will be mirrored at TripAdvisor following the transaction.
The deal is still subject to final approval by the board in terms of the specifics. Expedia will seek stockholder approval as well. It’s all expected to close in the third quarter.
