(By Balachander) Liberty Interactive Corp. (NASDAQ: LINTA) announced it has taken a voting control of its stake in Tripadvisor Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP).
Liberty has acquired a total of roughly 4.8 million shares of the online travel research company from Barry Diller and The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation at $62.50 apiece.
As part of the deal, Diller's right to control the vote of the shares of TripAdvisor's common stock and Class B common stock that are beneficially owned by Liberty has been terminated and Liberty now controls a majority voting stake in TripAdvisor.
Liberty owns and controls around 18.16 million shares of common stock and 12.8 million shares of Class B common stock of TripAdvisor, representing roughly 22 percent of the equity and 57 percent of the total votes of all classes of TripAdvisor common stock.
Following the transaction, Barry Diller resigned as Chairman of the Board of TripAdvisor, but will continue serving as a director of TripAdvisor.
"Ever since we acquired TripAdvisor in 2004 it's been one of the smoothest and most trouble-free growth stories I've ever known," said Diller. "My only reason for resigning as Chairman and disposing of my interests is that I have more obligations than time and transferring control of TripAdvisor to Liberty is something I'm very comfortable with."
Englewood, Colorado-based Liberty Interactive is engaged in video and on-line commerce businesses in North America, Europe, and Asia.
"TripAdvisor is an established leader in the travel industry and our increased investment in the company is a strong addition to our portfolio," said Liberty CEO Greg Maffei.
LINTA shares added 0.52 percent to trade at $19.24 on Tuesday. TRIP shares closed at $38.39 on Monday.