TripAdvisor’s chair Barry Diller sells stake to Liberty Interactive
TRIPADVISOR chairman Barry Diller is stepping down from the role after selling his stake in the travel website to Liberty Interactive.
Liberty Interactive, which runs digital businesses including the shopping channel QVC, bought 4.8m shares of TripAdvisor’s common stock from Diller and The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation for a total of about $300m (£186m), making it the travel website’s new majority shareholder.
Liberty now owns shares representing nearly 22 per cent of the equity and 57 per cent of the total votes of all classes of the company’s stock.
Media mogul Diller, a former Fox and Paramount executive, said he is stepping down as chairman as he has “more obligations than time”, but will remain a director.
Shares in TripAdvisor, which trade on the Nasdaq, soared 6.6 per cent on the news yesterday to close at $40.91.
Liberty Interactive, which hailed TripAdvisor as a “strong addition”, also saw its share price rise.