Bidding Drama Unfolds at TripAdvisor – Merger Arbitrage Mondays

Tripadvisor (TRIP): $17.66

Market Cap: $2.46 B

Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, the controlling shareholder of online travel platform TripAdvisor, in its latest filing, revealed that TripAdvisor received a non-binding acquisition proposal from a third party, which the company’s board in its infinite wisdom rejected, deeming it undervalued.

Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings indicated in a filing that TripAdvisor first received this third party takeover offer in October last year and it evolved further in January 2025.

“On October 18, 2024, TripAdvisor received a non-binding indication of interest from a strategic bidder, which included a proposal to acquire TripAdvisor for $17.50 per share in cash. The TripAdvisor special committee subsequently authorized Centerview and Weil representatives to discuss the proposal with the bidder’s representatives. These discussions took place through early December 2024,” Liberty mentioned in a preliminary proxy statement.

The proxy statement was in relation to the merger agreement that the companies entered in December for TripAdvisor to acquire Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings for about $435 million.

A few days ago, the third-party bidder again provided TripAdvisor with a new proposal to acquire both TripAdvisor and Liberty TripAdvisor.