Expedia’s Chairman, Barry Diller, a media billionaire, has joined a host of companies that have planned to split and spin off units this year. According to reports, their plans to split into two publicly traded companies through the proposed spin-off of its TripAdvisor business, could help unlock value for the high-growth TripAdvisor travel site business as the company focuses on investing in products that will enhance its competitive positioning. Also, the recent separation has increased their shares by 13% in after-hours trading.

However, Expedia on its own is said to be making the majority profit of the two companies and the TripAdvisor advertising-based model has been described as its future.

Moreover, the Chief Executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, has stated that the separations will "allows the two businesses to be pure plays and to operate with the proper amount of focus to grow respectively”, he further said there were no plans to sell TripAdvisor and that there would not be any expected changes in the company’s management.

Also, the company expects to have a tax free transaction which will involve the distribution of the stock of TripAdvisor to Expedia stockholders who will receive proportionate amount of TripAdvisor stock.

In addition, debt-rating agencies Fitch and Standard & Poor's warned that they may cut certain Expedia ratings as the separation could reduce the company’s growth rate, EBITDA margin and discretionary cash flow generation.