Expedia Group's Conundrum: Acquisitions or Share Repurchases?
Skift Take
Expedia Group doesn't intend to hoard piles of cash for a rainy day. The company purports to favor share repurchases over acquisitions, all things being equal, but if a rainmaker of a deal comes along, then Expedia may pounce.
Expedia Group hasn't pulled off a major acquisition since buying HomeAway for $3.9 billion in 2015, but in thinking about the intervening years, the company's chief financial officer made it clear Expedia won't sit idly by with piles of cash.
The issue basically comes down to doing share repurchases or making acquisitions, and the company's preferred option has ebbed and flowed over the years. Expedia Group favors share repurchases and reducing its share count to boost earnings, but it intends to be open to acquisitions if the right opportunity comes along, according to Expedia Group CFO Alan Pickerill.
"So we're inclined to deploy that capital and to deploy the free cash flow," Pickerill told attendees at the Citi 2019 Global Technology Conference in
