Booking and Airbnb Have a $22 Billion Wad of Cash — How Will They Spend It?

Four major online travel companies had around $34 billion in cash and equivalents on the books at the end of 2022 — and that's considerably more liquid dinero than they had at the end of pre-Covid 2019.

Share repurchases, which boost shareholder value, are definitely high on the agenda in 2023 for most of these companies even though these transactions became a flashpoint because of all the employee firings they carried out leading up to and during the height of the pandemic. Investor Warren Buffet has a different view on share repurchases.

But beyond the share repurchases, Booking Holdings, Airbnb, Trip.com Group and Expedia Group, among other online travel companies, have substantial monies on the books for merger and acquisition activity, and other investments in growth and technology.

Booking Holdings had the largest rainy day fund at $12.2 billion at the end of last year, and added $1.4 billion to the stockpile this month by completing the sale of its shares in China's delivery app and hotel aggregator Meituan. Airbnb was cash rich with $9.6 billion, Trip.com Group had $8.7 billion when it last reported its cash trove as of September 30, and Expedia Group coveted $4.1 billion. (See accompanying chart.)

Online Travel Companies' Cash and Cash Equivalents as of December 31, 2022 versus 2019

Company Cash 2019 Cash 2022 % Change Booking Holdings $7.3 billion $12.2 billion 67.10% Airbnb $2 billion $9.6 billion 382% Trip.com Group* $8.5 billion $8.7 billion 2.4% Expedia $4.6 billion $4.1 billion -(11%)

Source: Financial filings

* The chart shows Trip.com Group cash and equivalents as of September 30, 2022; the company will report year-end results in a week.

What are Booking Holdings, Airbnb, Trip.com Group and Expedia Group, among others, going to do with their riches?

Booking Holdings Eyes eTraveli Group Acquisition

With $12.2 billion of cash and cash equivalents on the books as of the end of last year, and $1.4 billion added to the cash cushion this month from its Meituan share sale, Booking Holdings has plenty of strategic options.

Mergers and acquisitions â€