Report: Tripadvisor Considering Takeover Bid From Apollo Global Management

Tripadvisor is reportedly considering a takeover bid from Apollo Global Management.

The travel information service has been working with advisers to consider any takeover interest since last month after its board authorized talks on a possible acquisition, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (March 6).

Apollo Global Management has expressed interest in such a bid, the report said, citing unnamed sources.

The deliberations are in their early stages, and may not result in a deal, according to the report.

Neither Apollo Global Management nor Tripadvisor immediately replied to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

As of Wednesday, Tripadvisor is valued at about $3.5 billion, according to the report.

The company’s largest shareholder is Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings, which controls 21.1% of its stock and 56.9% of voting power in the company, the report said. Other shareholders include BlackRock and Vanguard Group, each of which hold a stake of more than 10%.

It was reported in August 2023 that Tripadvisor was benefiting from consumers’ hunger for experiences, with the travel service’s experience earnings surpassing its hotel earnings for the first time.

“[O]ur data from customer behavior on the Tripadvisor site reflects stability across room rates, quality of hotels and length of stay,” Matt Goldberg, CEO of Tripadvisor, said during an August earnings call. “Most encouragingly, we continue to see a meaningful opportunity to serve the traveler in search of experiences, which is increasingly core to travel planning.”

In July 2023, Tripadvisor added an artificial intelligence (AI) travel itinerary generator to its travel guidance platform.

This addition to the company’s Trips product uses OpenAI’s generative AI technology to craft personalized travel itineraries based on insights from travelers’ reviews and opinions posted on the platform.

“This launch represents an important milestone in Tripadvisor’s strategy and is just one element of our plan to drive deeper engagement with travelers on our platform,” Goldberg said at the time.

In other recent news around acquisitions, Razor Group said Monday (March 4) that it acquired Perch in a deal that consolidates two online brand aggregators.

With this acquisition, Razor Group now operates a catalog of 40,000 products across three continents, “paving the way for a [$1 billion] top-line business,” Tushar Ahluwalia, co-founder and CEO of Razor Group, said when announcing the deal.