Trivago, online hotel booking and searching site went public this Friday with its shares priced at just $11. During the day, the company rose more than $287 million (less than expectations) and sold 26.1 million American depositary shares at the stock exchange.
The share prices closed at $11.85 being up by 7.73 percent. However, the shares were priced much lower than the forecasted price of $13-$15. The company plans to utilize the amount towards expansion, acquisitions, financial flexiblity, and technological development of its platform.
Expedia Inc. is the major stakeholder for Trivago and holds the highest number of its shares. Trivago works and is controlled by the same shareholder since 2012. Expedia’s majority stake in the travel company amounts to $632 million. Apart from this, Trivago is currently selling 18.1 million ADSs out of which 8 million are being sold by the shareholders. The stocks for the company is trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol “TRVG”. The company has chosen Nasdaq as its trading platform due to the fact that quarter of Trivago users are American.
CEO Rolf Schromgens said,”We have grown very massively in the last year.” Throwing light upon the same, revenue estimates to $425.6 million in the past nine months whereas the net loss for the company stood at $42.8 million with $324.6 million revenue last year. But compared to the year 2015, the IPOs price is 42 percent less this year.
The rival platform, TripAdvisor has seen a sudden fall this year with growing number of platforms in the market. Further these days, hotels have encouraged booking through their own websites offering discounts and bargains.
Trivago generates revenue by charging travel agents and hotels on a “cost-per-click” basis. Further, the company wants to hold on its focus in hotel searches, Schromgens here adds, “We don’t have to go to a vertical to solve another problem,” as the company believes there is still scope for improvement in their search algorithms.
Trivago filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the name Travel BV which will change its name to Trivago NV before the offering completes. Further, JPMorgan Securities LLC, Goldman Sachs & Co., and Morgan Stanley & Co are among the underwriters for the offering.
