Tripadvisor

Its stock pummeled after reporting disappointing profit numbers, its reputation for the truth under attack, the travel review site TripAdvisor Inc. has had a tough first two months as a public company. And now Google is ramping up the competition. Fifty million people a month visit Newton-based TripAdvisor to discover which hotel is "disgustingly filthy," as one user called a Cape Cod motor court, or "impeccable," a compliment for a historic Boston inn. With 1,200 employees worldwide, and 500 in Massachusetts, TripAdvisor is the Boston area's largest consumer Internet company.

TripAdvisor Inc., the Newton-based online travel-recommendation and booking service spun off from Expedia Inc. in December, soared the most in five months after quarterly sales and profit exceeded some analysts' estimates. The stock, up 69 percent this year, was the top performer on the S&P 500 Wednesday. Profit excluding certain items was 38 cents a share. Revenue rose to $183.7 million.

Expedia's spin-off of TripAdvisor as a separately traded, independent company was complete Wednesday, with TripAdvisor shares sinking about 5 percent. Expedia shareholders received one share of TripAdvisor and one share of Expedia for every two shares of Expedia they held at the close of trading Tuesday. Expedia lost about half their value and were trading at $28.02, which was more of a technicality after splitting the company. TripAdvisor shares cost $28.73 each. Expedia Inc. first said in April it planned to spin off TripAdvisor, which lets travelers post advice and reviews and...

TripAdvisor Inc., the online travel-recommendation service spun off from Expedia Inc., surged in extended trading after reporting first-quarter sales and profit that exceeded some analysts' estimates. The shares climbed as much as 21 percent to $44.25. Before the report, they had fallen 2.6 percent to $36.53 at Tuesday's close in New York. The stock has increased 45 percent this year. First-quarter profit excluding certain items was 38 cents a share, the Newton-based company said in a statement.

TripAdvisor Inc. tumbled after three analysts downgraded the stock, which suffered the biggest percentage decline on the S&P 500. Susquehanna International Group downgraded TripAdvisor to "neutral" from "positive. " Benchmark Co. and Lazard Capital Markets also cut their ratings. The Newton-based company on Wednesday posted quarterly profit that missed the average analyst estimate.

Newton-based TripAdvisor Inc., the world's largest travel site, was raised to "buy" from "underperform" by Bank of America analysts. They say the company's fourth-quarter earnings report should give a clearer picture of the newly public company. TripAdvisor was spun off last month by Expedia Inc. to be a stand-alone company. With 1,172 employees and $486 million in 2010 revenue, TripAdvisor is the biggest consumer Internet company in the Boston area.

TripAdvisor Inc. will become an independent company this week when parent firm Expedia Inc. spins off the Newton-based travel service. Upon completion of the spin-off, Expedia will cease to have any ownership interest in TripAdvisor. For the last two weeks, TripAdvisor has been trading under the symbol "TRIPV" on the Nasdaq stock market. This week, the new company will start trading under the symbol "TRIP. " TripAdvisor will continue to be based in Newton, and Expedia Inc. will remain headquartered in Bellevue, Wash.

TripAdvisor Inc. will become an independent company this week when its parent, Expedia Inc., spins off the Newton-based travel service. Expedia will cease to have any ownership interest in TripAdvisor. For the past two weeks, TripAdvisor has been trading under the symbol TRIPV on the Nasdaq stock market. Starting this week, the new company will trade as TRIP. TripAdvisor will remain in Newton. Expedia Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash. Founded in 2000, TripAdvisor offers travel information, airline ticketing, and hotel and rental car reservations.

People searching for hotels on Kayak now have 60 million more resources at their fingertips. The travel search website will include hotel reviews from TripAdvisor travelers, giving Kayak users access to more than 60 million opinions from around the world on hotels' cleanliness, staff, and rooms with the best views. Kayak also includes hotel recommendations from travel editors at Frommer's and Budget Travel. The agreement is the first partnership between Newton-based TripAdvisor and Kayak, which is based in Norwalk, Conn., and has operations in Concord.

TripAdvisor Inc., the Newton-based online travel-recommendation and booking service spun off from Expedia Inc. in December, soared the most in five months after quarterly sales and profit exceeded some analysts' estimates. The stock, up 69 percent this year, was the top performer on the S&P 500 Wednesday. Profit excluding certain items was 38 cents a share. Revenue rose to $183.7 million.

People searching for hotels on Kayak now have 60 million more resources at their fingertips. As of today, the travel search website will include hotel reviews from TripAdvisor travelers, giving Kayak users access to more than 60 million opinions from around the world on hotels' cleanliness, location, staff, and rooms with the best views. Kayak also includes hotel recommendations from travel editors at Frommer's and Budget Travel, and users can narrow their searches to include only reviewed hotels.

Its stock pummeled after reporting disappointing profit numbers, its reputation for the truth under attack, the travel review site TripAdvisor Inc. has had a tough first two months as a public company. And now Google is ramping up the competition. Fifty million people a month visit Newton-based TripAdvisor to discover which hotel is "disgustingly filthy," as one user called a Cape Cod motor court, or "impeccable," a compliment for a historic Boston inn. With 1,200 employees worldwide, and 500 in Massachusetts, TripAdvisor is the Boston area's largest consumer Internet...

TripAdvisor Inc. tumbled after three analysts downgraded the stock, which suffered the biggest percentage decline on the S&P 500. Susquehanna International Group downgraded TripAdvisor to "neutral" from "positive. " Benchmark Co. and Lazard Capital Markets also cut their ratings. The Newton-based company on Wednesday posted quarterly profit that missed the average analyst estimate.

LONDON - TripAdvisor must stop claiming that all reviews on its British travel site were written by independent travelers - and are therefore reliable - a regulator said. The Advertising Standards Authority said claims on TripAdvisor.co.uk, including "reviews you can trust" and "more than 50 million honest travel reviews and opinions from real travelers," were misleading. The agency said it is possible some reviews were submitted by people who were trying to influence customers' choices.

Newton-based TripAdvisor Inc., the world's largest travel site, was raised to "buy" from "underperform" by Bank of America analysts. They say the company's fourth-quarter earnings report should give a clearer picture of the newly public company. TripAdvisor was spun off last month by Expedia Inc. to be a stand-alone company. With 1,172 employees and $486 million in 2010 revenue, TripAdvisor is the biggest consumer Internet company in the Boston area.

Travel website TripAdvisor Inc. received a tepid welcome on Wall Street yesterday, with shares falling 8.5 percent to $27.67 on the day after it was spun off as a stand-alone, company by former parent Expedia Inc. "The stock got off to a rocky start," said Carroll Rheem, an analyst at the travel industry research firm PhoCusWright Inc. in Sherman, Conn. TripAdvisor, which was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Newton, claims to be the largest travel site in the world, hosting millions of reviews generated by users and members.

Saying most travel guidebooks are out of date before they hit the bookstore shelves, TripAdvisor.com of Needham last week launched a guidebook-like service that will be written and edited anonymously by the website's own users. TripAdvisor Inside is an attempt to do for travel writing what Wikipedia has done for encyclopedias, harness the power of the Internet and its users to generate useful information. One key difference is that TripAdvisor is trying to commercialize the wiki approach, blending the content generated by its users with ads and revenue-generating text links.

LONDON - TripAdvisor must stop claiming that all reviews on its British travel site were written by independent travelers - and are therefore reliable - a regulator said. The Advertising Standards Authority said claims on TripAdvisor.co.uk, including "reviews you can trust" and "more than 50 million honest travel reviews and opinions from real travelers," were misleading. The agency said it is possible some reviews were submitted by people who were trying to influence customers' choices.

Expedia's spin-off of TripAdvisor as a separately traded, independent company was complete Wednesday, with TripAdvisor shares sinking about 5 percent. Expedia shareholders received one share of TripAdvisor and one share of Expedia for every two shares of Expedia they held at the close of trading Tuesday. Expedia lost about half their value and were trading at $28.02, which was more of a technicality after splitting the company. TripAdvisor shares cost $28.73 each. Expedia Inc. first said in April it planned to spin off TripAdvisor, which lets travelers post advice and reviews and...