John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media Corporation is pictured on 8 July 2011. Travel ratings website TripAdvisor changed hands Tuesday as Malone's Liberty Interactive paid $300 million for a controlling stake, the companies said.
Travel ratings website TripAdvisor changed hands Tuesday as media tycoon John Malone's Liberty Interactive paid $300 million for a controlling stake, the companies said.
Liberty said it purchased some 4.8 million shares of common stock from IAC chairman Barry Diller and The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation at $62.50 per share.
As a result of the deal, Liberty now controls a majority voting stake in TripAdvisor a year after it was spun off by another Liberty-controlled travel group, Expedia.
Liberty Interactive and its affiliated Liberty Ventures now control 22 percent of the equity and 57 percent of the total votes of TripAdvisor, which calls itself the world's largest travel site.
"We are pleased to take voting control of our longstanding stake in TripAdvisor," said Greg Maffei, Liberty president and chief executive.
"TripAdvisor is an established leader in the travel industry and our increased investment in the company is a strong addition to our portfolio."
Liberty has stakes in a variety of companies including Home Shopping Network and the operators of Evite.
TripAdvisor became an independent company in December 2011 when Expedia spun off the website which makes money off of the travel advertising it packages with listings and mostly user-generated reviews of hotels, flights, vacation packages and other services.
(c) 2012 AFP
