Related Party Transactions

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

Related Party Transactions

NOTE 15: RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Relationship between Expedia and TripAdvisor

Upon consummation of the Spin-Off, Expedia was considered a related party under GAAP based on a number of factors, including, among others, common ownership of our shares and those of Expedia.  However, we no longer consider Expedia a related party.   For purposes of governing certain of the ongoing relationships between us and Expedia at and after the Spin-Off, and to provide for an orderly transition, we and Expedia entered into various agreements at the time of the Spin-Off, which TripAdvisor has satisfied its obligations. However, TripAdvisor continues to be subject to certain post-spin obligations under the Tax Sharing Agreement.

Under the Tax Sharing Agreement between us and Expedia, we are generally required to indemnify Expedia for any taxes resulting from the Spin-Off (and any related interest, penalties, legal and professional fees, and all costs and damages associated with related stockholder litigation or controversies) to the extent such amounts resulted from (i) any act or failure to act by us described in the covenants in the tax sharing agreement, (ii) any acquisition of our equity securities or assets or those of a member of our group, or (iii) any failure of the representations with respect to us or any member of our group to be true or any breach by us or any member of our group of any covenant, in each case, which is contained in the separation documents or in the documents relating to the IRS private letter ruling and/or the opinion of counsel. The full text of the Tax Sharing Agreement is incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10K as Exhibit 10.2. Refer to “Note 9— Income Taxes” above for information regarding the status of completed and ongoing IRS audits of our consolidated income tax returns with Expedia to date.

Relationship between Liberty Interactive Corporation, Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. and TripAdvisor

On December 11, 2012, Liberty Interactive Corporation, or Liberty, purchased an aggregate of 4,799,848 shares of common stock of TripAdvisor from Barry Diller, our former Chairman of the Board of Directors and Senior Executive, and certain of his affiliates (the “Stock Purchase”). As of December 31, 2013, Liberty beneficially owned 18,159,752 shares of our common stock and 12,799,999 shares of our Class B common stock and was considered a related party with TripAdvisor.

On August 27, 2014, the entire beneficial ownership of our common stock and Class B common stock held by Liberty was indirectly acquired by Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. (“LTRIP”) by means of a spin-off (the “Liberty Spin-Off”). In the Liberty Spin-Off, Liberty, LTRIP’s former parent company, distributed, by means of a dividend, to the holders of its Liberty Ventures common stock, Liberty’s entire equity interest in LTRIP.  As a result of the Liberty Spin-Off, LTRIP became a separate, publicly traded company and 100% of Liberty’s interest in TripAdvisor is now held by LTRIP.  Given the change in ownership of our shares, we no longer consider Liberty a related party effective as of the Liberty Spin-Off.  

As of December 31, 2014, LTRIP beneficially owned 18,159,752 shares of our common stock and 12,799,999 shares of our Class B common stock, which shares constitute 14.0% of the outstanding shares of Common Stock and 100% of the outstanding shares of Class B Common Stock. Assuming the conversion of all of LTRIP’s shares of Class B common stock into common stock, LTRIP would beneficially own 21.7% of the outstanding common stock (calculated in accordance with Rule 13d-3). Because each share of Class B common stock is generally entitled to ten votes per share and each share of common stock is entitled to one vote per share, LTRIP may be deemed to beneficially own equity securities representing approximately 56.6% of our voting power. We consider LTRIP a related party at December 31, 2014.

We had no material related party transactions with Liberty or LTRIP during the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 or 2012.