Liberty Interactive Corp Stock Rises On Spin-off News

By Mani
Updated on

Liberty Interactive Corp (NASDAQ:LINTA), owner and operator of a wide range of digital commerce businesses controlled by cable mogul John Malone, announced that it has completed the spin-off of Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings Inc.

The new Liberty TripAdvisor is also parent of BuySeasons, an online retailer of party supplies and costumes offering a variety of customized products and unique designs.

Liberty Interactive’s spin-off

Liberty Interactive announced in October its intention to spin-off its stake in TripAdvisor Inc and BuySeasons into a new publicly-traded company thatwould be named Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings (Trip Holdings). The company said Trip Holdings would be composed of its 22% economic and 57% voting interest in Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) as well as its BuySeasons business.

As a result of completion of the spin-off, Liberty and TripAdvisor Holdings are now separate publicly traded companies. TripAdvisor Holdings will begin regular trading on August 28, 2014 on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbols LTRPA, LTRPB.

Liberty’s controlling stake in TripAdvisor

In 2012, Liberty Interactive Corp acquired a controlling interest in Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) from Barry Diller, who had been its chairman. John Malone’s Liberty paid Diller $300 million in total.Since Diller acquired TripAdvisor Inc in 2004, the company has grown from 23 million revenues into a $5 billion company.

Liberty Interactive is a cluster of e-commerce businesses including QVC and stakes in other digital and media companies. While the new Liberty TripAdvisor is parent of BuySeasons, the remaining businesses of Liberty Interactive are split into two tracking-stock groups, Liberty Interactive Group and Liberty Ventures Group.

Liberty Interactive Corporation owns BuySeasons, Inc., besides a controlling stake in Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP). BuySeasons, through its BuyCostumes.com, BirthdayExpress.com, and CelebrateExpress.com websites, is a leading online retailer of costumes and accessories.

However, the latest spin-off won’t affect BuySeasons’ business operations. In a statement, Terry Rowinski, chief operating officer of BuySeasons said: “BuySeasons leadership remains the same, and this shift doesn’t impact our day-to-day operations”.

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