Expedia Group Inc.
EXPEBusiness Overview
ticker: EXPE step: 01 generated: 2026-05-12 source: quick-research
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) — Business Overview
Business Description
Expedia Group is one of the world's largest online travel agencies (OTAs), operating a portfolio of travel brands that collectively offer bookings across hotels, flights, vacation rentals, cars, cruises, and activities. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company reported $13.7B in revenue in FY2024 and $14.7B in FY2025. Following a multi-year technology unification initiative completed in 2024, Expedia consolidated disparate brand platforms onto a single technology stack, enabling faster product iteration and a unified loyalty program ("One Key") across its consumer brands.
Revenue Model
Expedia operates primarily on a merchant model — it acts as merchant of record, collects traveler payments, and pays suppliers net of its margin (enabling package bundling and higher take rates). A growing agency/affiliate model earns commissions on bookings where Expedia is not the merchant. The fastest-growing segment, B2B (Expedia for Business), provides white-label travel technology to banks, airlines, loyalty programs, and corporate travel managers. In FY2025, B2B represented ~38% of total revenue and grew 24% in Q4, having delivered 18 consecutive quarters of double-digit growth.
Products & Services
- Expedia.com — full-service OTA (flights, hotels, cars, packages)
- Hotels.com — hotel-focused booking with "Welcome Rewards" loyalty program
- Vrbo — vacation rental marketplace (competitor to Airbnb), U.S.-focused
- Travelocity / Orbitz / CheapTickets — value-oriented consumer OTA brands
- Hotwire — opaque/discount travel deals
- Trivago — hotel price comparison / metasearch (partially owned)
- Expedia for Business (B2B) — white-label travel technology API for 60,000+ partners (American Express, Delta, Emirates, corporate TMCs)
- One Key — cross-brand loyalty program unifying Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo (launched 2023)
- Romie — AI travel planning and booking assistant
Customer Base & Go-to-Market
Expedia serves leisure and business travelers primarily in the U.S. and Europe, with growing international exposure. B2B partners include financial institutions (credit card travel portals), airlines, loyalty programs, and corporate travel managers who embed Expedia's booking technology into their own platforms. The Uber partnership creates a new organic traffic channel independent of Google search. Customer acquisition is dominated by performance marketing (Google, Meta) and loyalty program retention.
Competitive Position
Expedia is #2 globally in OTA gross bookings behind Booking Holdings (which dominates European hotel inventory via Booking.com). Airbnb leads in alternative accommodations. Expedia's competitive moats include the B2B platform's integration depth with financial and travel partners (high switching costs), the One Key loyalty flywheel, and Vrbo's scale in U.S. vacation rentals. The technology unification initiative (completed 2024) eliminated a major structural disadvantage vs. Booking Holdings' more unified tech stack.
Key Facts
- Founded: 1996 (as Microsoft subsidiary; spun off 1999)
- Headquarters: Seattle, Washington
- Employees: ~17,000
- Exchange: NASDAQ
- Sector / Industry: Consumer Discretionary / Online Travel
- Market Cap: ~$16–20B
Financial Snapshot
ticker: EXPE step: 04 generated: 2026-05-12 source: quick-research
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) — Financial Snapshot
Income Statement Summary
| Metric | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $11.67B | $12.84B | $13.69B | +6.6% |
| Gross Margin | ~85% | ~85% | ~85% | stable |
| Operating Margin | ~5% | ~8% | ~10% | +~200bp |
| Net Income | ~$0.35B | ~$0.73B | ~$1.06B | +45% |
| EPS (diluted, GAAP) | ~$2.17 | $5.31 | $8.95 | +69% |
Note: FY2025 revenue was $14.73B (+7.6%). GAAP EPS improvement reflects margin expansion + aggressive share buybacks (share count down ~17% over 2022–2025).
Cash Flow & Balance Sheet (FY2025)
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Operating Cash Flow | ~$3.3B |
| Free Cash Flow | ~$3.1B |
| FCF Margin | ~21% |
| Cash & Equivalents | ~$4.0B |
| Total Debt | ~$6.5B |
Key Ratios (approximate)
- P/E (GAAP): ~11–13x | EV/EBITDA: ~10x | FCF Yield: ~8–10%
- Revenue Growth (FY2024): +6.6% | Adj EBITDA Margin: ~21%
- Net Debt / Adj EBITDA: ~1–1.5x (comfortable)
Growth Profile
Expedia recovered strongly from 2020–2021 COVID disruption and has grown revenue from $8.6B in 2021 to $14.7B in 2025, compounding at ~14% annually. The mix shift toward B2B (now 38% of revenue, growing 24% in Q4 2025) is the key structural driver — B2B revenue has higher margins, higher retention, and lower customer acquisition cost than consumer OTA bookings. Adj EBITDA margin expanded from ~17% in 2022 to ~21.5% in 2025 on technology cost savings from platform consolidation.
Forward Estimates
- FY2026 revenue guidance: ~$15.5B (6–8% gross bookings growth)
- FY2026 adj EBITDA margin: expected to expand modestly; management signaling investment year
- Adj EPS FY2026: estimated ~$15–17 (consensus mean price target ~$282 at ~17x adj earnings)
- Stock down ~30% YTD 2026, trading at ~11.8x forward earnings vs. Booking at mid-teens
Deeper Financial Analysis
The fundamental tier adds 9 additional research dimensions for $EXPE.