German travel site trivago files for IPO in US

German-based hotel booking site trivago, controlled by US online travel giant Expedia, on Monday filed for a public share offering in New York.

The firm founded in 2005 which aims to connect travelers to hotels at the lowest rate is used for booking at 1.3 million hotels in over 190 countries, and has 55 localized websites and apps in 33 languages.

The company said in a statement that the number of shares to be offered and price range had not been determined. But the filing gave a preliminary estimate it would raise $400 million in the .

The IPO will be led by a Dutch-based entity called travel BV, which will be the holding company for the German startup.

Expedia bought a controlling share of trivago in 2012 and will retain shares after the IPO, according to the filing.

According to the filing, Expedia and the founders will consider a corporate reorganization within 12 months of the IPO.

The company took in some 580 million euros ($640 million) in revenue in the past fiscal year but has been consistently losing money.

The filing says it has growth opportunities because "consumers are increasingly looking for tools to enable them to navigate through multiple booking options simultaneously and compare prices" through an independent platform.

"We believe that we are reshaping hotel discovery for our users, while changing the way hotel advertisers identify, engage with and acquire travelers."

Trivago competes with other "metasearch" platforms such as Priceline's Kayak which help travelers compare listings, offering links to booking sites or hotels themselves.

© 2016 AFP

Citation: German travel site trivago files for IPO in US (2016, November 14) retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2016-11-german-site-trivago-ipo.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Critics take aim at Expedia-Orbitz tie-up

3 shares

Feedback to editors