Tripadvisor officials are doing their jobs in that they are trying to grow the company in the event no strategic transaction takes place. But eventually there has to be one.
Google has made frequent changes to its search results pages over the years, and Tripadvisor has often suffered as Google has its own competing businesses. Recent changes appear to have hit Tripadvisor particularly hard.
A potential buyer could decide to break up Tripadvisor's parts, including Viator, TheFork, and metasearch, under the theory that the parts are worth more than the whole.
You can see Tripadvisor's priorities crystal clear in where its restructuring occurred. The Tripadvisor Core segment took the heaviest hit, and Viator was impacted the least.
Viator's growth as a tours and activities platform both lifts and exhausts Tripadvisor's revenue, in a seemingly relentless pursuit of brand strength through performance marketing spend.
Tripadvisor's generative AI entry is playing to its strengths — tours and activities, and restaurant reservations. Hotels? Maybe they'll get added later.
In football or soccer — pick your sport/analogy — sometimes it takes a new coach to get momentum. Under its new CEO, Tripadvisor is making significant changes to its core products.