TripAdvisor Finalizes The Acquisition Of lafourchette

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May 22, 2014, 06:57 ET

NEWTON, Mass., May 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) today announced it has finalized the acquisition of lafourchette, an online restaurant booking platform with a network of more than 12,000 restaurant partners across Europe. The completion of this transaction represents TripAdvisor's first acquisition in the restaurant industry.

lafourchette is the leading online and mobile reservation platform for restaurants in France, Spain and Switzerland. The company also offers management software solutions helping restaurants to maximize business by providing a flexible online booking, discount and data tool. Based in Paris, lafourchette operates the 'eltenedor' brand in Spanish and 'thefork' brand in English.

"We are very happy to welcome lafourchette to the TripAdvisor family," said Stephen Kaufer, president and CEO, TripAdvisor, Inc. "lafourchette is already growing rapidly and by leveraging TripAdvisor's restaurant traffic of over 200 million restaurant page views per month, we should be able to drive more demand for restaurants on lafourchette sites.

"We are also excited about the new content and features we will be able to provide to the TripAdvisor community as we continue to help them find and book great dining experiences, whether on their travels or just dining out in their hometown."

"This acquisition brings together two companies with the same customer-centric vision and entrepreneurial culture," said Bertrand Jelensperger, CEO, lafourchette. "Combining our complementary skills and scale, the deal will allow us to accelerate our growth into new markets and enhance the quality of service we provide to our customers and restaurant partners."

With the acquisition completed, content integration has already begun. Restaurant availability search has been integrated directly into TripAdvisor's city pages for destinations where lafourchette has restaurants partners, allowing users to search availability and reserve a table for a specific date and time directly from TripAdvisor.

lafourchette and its employees will continue to operate from the company's existing European offices, with headquarters in Paris and Barcelona. All three lafourchette brands will continue to operate under the leadership of lafourchette CEO Bertrand Jelensperger.

The terms of the acquisition will not be disclosed.

About TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor^® is the world's largest travel site*, enabling travelers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, reaching nearly 260 million unique monthly visitors**, and more than 150 million reviews and opinions covering more than 4 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. The sites operate in 39 countries worldwide, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also includes TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to millions of monthly TripAdvisor visitors.

TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) manages and operates websites under 22 other travel media brands: www.airfarewatchdog.com, www.bookingbuddy.com, www.cruisecritic.com, www.everytrail.com, www.familyvacationcritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.gateguru.com, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaywatchdog.com, www.independenttraveler.com, www.jetsetter.com, www.niumba.com, www.onetime.com, www.oyster.com, www.seatguru.com, www.smartertravel.com, www.tingo.com, www.travelpod.com, www.tripbod.com, www.vacationhomerentals.com, www.virtualtourist.com, and www.kuxun.cn.