Expedia Group

What does Expedia Group own?
Expedia Group owns a portfolio of online travel brands including Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo, Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotwire, and Wotif. The company also holds a majority stake in Trivago, a hotel metasearch platform headquartered in Germany. In addition to its consumer brands, Expedia Group operates Expedia for Business, a B2B division that provides technology infrastructure, inventory access, and booking capabilities to over 60,000 travel agency and corporate partners.

Is Expedia Group publicly traded?
Yes, Expedia Group, Inc. is listed on NASDAQ under ticker EXPE. The company was first spun off from Microsoft in 1999 and became an independent company separate from IAC in 2005. Barry Diller retains significant voting control through a dual-class share structure. Major institutional shareholders include Vanguard Group and BlackRock. Ariane Gorin serves as CEO.

Who founded Expedia Group?
Expedia was founded in 1996 as a division of Microsoft by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink. The service was one of the first online travel booking platforms. Microsoft spun off Expedia as an independent company in 1999. IAC/InterActiveCorp, led by Barry Diller, acquired a controlling stake in 2001 and built the company into a multi-brand online travel group. Expedia was spun off from IAC as an independent company in 2005.

Where is Expedia Group headquartered?
Expedia Group is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA. The company moved its headquarters from Bellevue, Washington to a new campus in Seattle in 2019. Expedia operates globally with significant operations in the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, though approximately 63% of its revenue is generated from US point of sale.

How many brands does Expedia Group own?
Expedia Group owns seven or more travel brands, including Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo, Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotwire, and Wotif. The company also holds a majority stake in Trivago. The three core consumer brands are Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo, all of which participate in the One Key loyalty program. The remaining brands operate as secondary consumer-facing platforms.

Who owns Expedia Group?
Expedia Group, Inc. is publicly traded on NASDAQ under ticker EXPE. Barry Diller retains significant voting control through a dual-class share structure that gives his shares disproportionate voting power. Major institutional shareholders include Vanguard Group, BlackRock, and State Street Global Advisors. No single institutional shareholder holds a controlling stake independent of the Diller voting structure. Ariane Gorin serves as CEO.

What is Expedia Group's revenue?
Expedia Group reported full-year 2025 revenue of $14.7 billion, up 8% from $13.7 billion in 2024. Gross bookings reached $119.6 billion, and adjusted EBITDA was $3.5 billion, up 19% year over year. In Q2 2026, revenue grew 14% to $4.3 billion, and the company raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $16.05 to $16.22 billion.

What is the One Key loyalty program?
One Key is Expedia Group's unified loyalty program, launched in 2023, that allows members to earn and redeem OneKeyCash across Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo. The program replaced the separate loyalty programs that previously operated independently for each brand. The consolidation was part of a broader technology migration that moved all three brands onto a single shared platform.

Expedia was founded in 1996 as a division of Microsoft by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink. The service was one of the first online travel booking platforms, allowing consumers to search and book flights and hotels directly through the internet rather than through a travel agent. Microsoft spun off Expedia as an independent publicly listed company in November 1999, with the stock debuting on NASDAQ.

In 2001, USA Networks, the media company led by Barry Diller, acquired a controlling stake in Expedia from Microsoft for approximately $1.5 billion. The acquisition came at a difficult time for the travel industry, following the September 11 attacks, but Diller recognized that online travel would recover and grow. Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp used Expedia as a platform to build a broader online travel portfolio. IAC acquired Hotel Reservations Network, which was renamed Hotels.com, and acquired Hotwire in 2003. IAC also acquired TripAdvisor in 2004, which became a major travel review and metasearch platform.

In December 2004, IAC announced plans to split into two companies, and in August 2005, Expedia was spun off as an independent publicly traded company under the name Expedia, Inc., listing on NASDAQ under ticker EXPE. Dara Khosrowshahi, who had served as CFO during the IAC years, became CEO of the independent Expedia and led the company for the next 12 years.

Following the spinoff, Expedia continued an aggressive acquisition strategy. In 2012, the company acquired a 61.6% majority stake in Trivago for approximately $564 million in cash plus stock, gaining access to the hotel metasearch market. In January 2015, Expedia acquired Travelocity from Sabre Corporation for $280 million in cash, consolidating another consumer travel brand. In November 2015, Expedia acquired HomeAway, the parent company of Vrbo, for approximately $3.9 billion in cash and stock, making a major bet on the vacation rental market. In September 2015, the company acquired Orbitz Worldwide for approximately $1.6 billion, further consolidating the online travel agency market in the United States.

TripAdvisor was spun off as an independent company in December 2011, separating the review and metasearch platform from the Expedia booking business. The spinoff allowed both companies to pursue independent strategies, though Expedia and TripAdvisor maintained commercial agreements.

In 2018, the company rebranded as Expedia Group to unite its portfolio of brands under a single corporate identity and emphasize its role as a platform connecting travelers and travel suppliers. The rebranding coincided with a major technology transformation that consolidated multiple brand platforms onto a single shared infrastructure, a project that took several years and caused significant disruption to brands like Hotels.com and Vrbo during the migration period.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 caused severe disruption to the travel industry. Expedia's revenue declined approximately 57% from 2019 to 2020, and the company laid off approximately 3,000 employees, roughly 9% of its workforce, and raised capital to weather the downturn. Travel demand recovered strongly in 2021 and 2022 as pandemic restrictions eased, and by 2023 the company had returned to pre-pandemic revenue levels.

In 2023, Expedia launched the One Key loyalty program, the first unified loyalty program across Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo. The program allows members to earn and redeem OneKeyCash across all three brands, replacing the separate loyalty programs that previously operated independently. The technology migration and loyalty consolidation caused temporary disruption to Hotels.com and Vrbo, which CEO Ariane Gorin has been working to address since taking the role in May 2024.

Under Gorin's leadership, the company has prioritized B2B growth, international expansion, and AI-driven product improvements. B2B gross bookings grew 21% in 2024 and 21% in Q2 2026, driven by new partner signings and expanded relationships with existing partners. The B2B business now accounts for approximately 30% of total gross bookings.

Expedia Group's sustainability efforts focus on sustainable travel practices, corporate operations, and industry partnerships rather than the product-level sustainability certifications relevant to consumer goods companies.

The company has committed to reducing its environmental footprint through energy efficiency in its corporate offices, renewable energy procurement, and waste reduction programs. Expedia Group's Seattle headquarters, which the company moved into in 2019, was designed with sustainability features including energy-efficient systems and sustainable building materials.

Through the Expedia Group Foundation, the company supports disaster relief and community programs in travel destinations. The foundation has partnered with organizations including the World Travel and Tourism Council and the United Nations World Tourism Organization on initiatives related to sustainable tourism development.

Expedia Group has also taken steps to promote sustainable travel options to consumers. The company has introduced eco-friendly hotel labels on its platforms, allowing travelers to filter for properties with verified sustainability certifications. This feature is available on Expedia.com and Hotels.com in select markets.

The company does not hold B Corp certification, and its sustainability claims are primarily self-reported through corporate channels rather than independently verified by third-party organizations like CDP or the Science Based Targets initiative. Investors and analysts have noted that Expedia Group's sustainability disclosures are less detailed than those of some peers in the technology and travel sectors.

Expedia Group and its brands have received recognition from travel industry organizations and workplace evaluators.

• Glassdoor Best Places to Work: Expedia Group has been recognized by Glassdoor in multiple years for employee satisfaction and workplace culture, based on anonymous employee reviews.
• Expedia Group on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index: The company has received scores recognizing its LGBTQ+ workplace policies and benefits in the Human Rights Campaign's annual Corporate Equality Index.
• Newsweek Most Trustworthy Companies in America (2024): Expedia Group was included in Newsweek's list of the most trustworthy public companies, based on a survey of over 25,000 U.S. residents and analysis of financial performance.
• One Key Loyalty Program Recognition: The One Key loyalty program, launched in 2023, has been recognized by travel industry publications including Travel Weekly and Skift for its innovative cross-brand loyalty integration.
• Expedia Group on the Forbes World's Best Employers List: The company has appeared on Forbes' annual list of the world's best employers, based on surveys of employees at large multinational companies.

Expedia Group has faced regulatory scrutiny related to rate parity agreements with hotels. Rate parity clauses, which prevent hotels from offering lower prices on their own websites than they offer through online travel agencies, have been investigated by competition authorities in several European countries. The European Commission and national regulators in Germany, France, and Italy have taken action against rate parity practices, leading to modifications in Expedia's contracts with hotel partners in those markets.

The company has also faced criticism from vacation rental hosts and guests regarding Vrbo's fee structure and cancellation policies. Hosts have complained about commission rates and the platform's handling of guest cancellations, while guests have raised concerns about the clarity of fee disclosures. These issues have been amplified by comparisons with Airbnb, which has different fee structures and policies.

The technology migration that consolidated Expedia's brands onto a single platform, completed in 2023, caused significant disruption to Hotels.com and Vrbo. The migration resulted in the loss of features that travelers and hosts had relied on, and the simultaneous launch of the One Key loyalty program created confusion among existing Hotels.com Rewards members. CEO Ariane Gorin acknowledged the disruption publicly and has made recovering lost travelers a priority.

Barry Diller's dual-class share structure has been criticized by some corporate governance advocates who argue that it concentrates voting power in a single individual, reducing accountability to public shareholders. The structure gives Diller effective control over the company regardless of the economic ownership held by institutional investors.