Viking Global Investors filed a 13G yesterday, declaring a 6% passive stake in TripAdvisor(TRIP). It appears that the entire stake was purchased quite recently, as former TripAdvisor parent Expedia(EXPE) does not appear in the firm’s most recent 13F-HR, filed on November 14. As far as we can tell, Viking has never filed a 13D to take an active position in any stock, so we would not expect to see that here, especially with Barry Diller controlling 30.5% of the company through his own stake and that of Liberty Interactive Corporation. Through agreements with the company, the details of which can be seen in last month’s 13D filed by Liberty and Diller, Diller has broad rights to influence Board makeup and to stop many kinds of transactions.
Viking Global Investors is run by Andreas Halvorsen, a former member of an elite Norwegian Naval unit. Halvorsen, who has an MBA from Stanford, previously worked for Julian Robertson at Tiger Asset Management, and has been one of the most successful of the so-called “tiger cubs”. The firm is no stranger to the online travel industry, having previously disclosed a stake in Priceline(PCLN). That position, initiated in the second quarter of last year, was reduced substantially by the third quarter filing, and we wonder if it was liquidated to purchase TripAdvisor.
Disclosure: The author holds no position in any stock mentioned
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