Lone Pine has Acquired a 5 Percent stake in Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP), according to a 13G filed with the SEC. The tiger hedge fund run by Steve Mandel owned a 4.44% stake in the company. However, the transaction is notable as Lone Pine is now the fourth largest shareholder in the online travel company. Lone Pine Capital through various funds owns 6,523,653 shares of Common Stock. TripAdvisor, Inc. (TripAdvisor) is an online travel research company, enabling users to plan and have a trip.
The transaction took place at $62.50 per share and some believe that the majority of the premium of ~63% to yesterday’s close is for the voting rights component. As a result of the transaction, Liberty Interactive (NASDAQ:LINTA) owns and controls 18.2MM shares of common stock and 12.8MM shares of Class B stock of TripAdvisor. This represents approximately 22% of the equity and 57% of the voting rights of all classes of Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) common stock.
In addition, Mr. Diller resigned today as Chairman of TripAdvisor’s Board of Directors and as Senior Executive of the company. He remains on TRIP’s board as a director. The company will make an announcement when a new Chairman has been elected by the Board.
While the deal makes TripAdvisor’s ownership structure less complicated and will potentially lead to more streamlined execution (Mr. Diller has many other business interests and time-consuming obligations), the company fundamentals have not changed.
Disclosure: No position
