Tripadvisor Faces New Investor Pressure to Spin Off Viator
Photo Credit: A Tripadvisor vinyl decal on a restaurant window. Adobe Stock / MichaelVi
Skift Take
In 2014, when Viator was nearly 20 years old and struggling for an exit, Tripadvisor scooped it up for $200 million. Now it could be worth $2 billion.
Tripadvisor has another investor pushing for changes, just six weeks after activist investor Starboard Value took a 9% stake.
UK-based Palliser Capital claims the company is stifling growth potential as it manages both a struggling legacy Tripadvisor business and Viator, a platform for experiences and its fastest-growing brand.
"It is attempting to operate simultaneously as a value business and a growth business — and succeeding at neither," James Smith, Palliser chief investment officer, wrote to the Tripadvisor board.
The entire company is worth less than $2 billion today. Palliser thinks Viator alone could be valued at $2-$2.5 billion, and that the entire company is worth around $3.7 billion.
It wants Tripadvisor to focus on Viator or sell it. T
