Steve Kaufer discusses the commercial leverage and dynamics during TripAdvisor's 2004 acquisition talks with IAC.
Opinion
Kaufer: Selling TripAdvisor in 2004 was financially a crazy bad decision
“Financially, it was a crazy bad decision. But given everything I knew at the time with the risks you outlined before, the fact that it was kind of a life-changing experience for everyone at the company was absolutely the right decision.”
Assertion Contradicted
Kaufer: Fake review farms target Google but explicitly exclude TripAdvisor
“We see these review places offering to write fake reviews on Google and some other sites. And then they say, except TripAdvisor. Cause like, yeah, if like, if they try, we catch them, we shut them down.”
Assertion Supported
Kaufer: Expedia let TripAdvisor operate autonomously and sell to direct competitors
“We were moved from IAC into the public company Expedia when that was formed about a year later. And again, we were division within Expedia and to their infinite credit, they let us continue to operate on our own, you know, even though we were selling our leads…”
Insight
Kaufer: Hospitality operators who cannot handle feedback are in the wrong business
“If you are in the hospitality business this is your life. Don't be in the hospitality business if you can't take feedback. And if you can't take feedback, some of which is good and some of which is not living up to Expectations, however unreasonable they might…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
TripAdvisor's first quarterly revenue-share check from Lycos was only $500
“That first revenue check, dot, dot, dot, was 500 dollars.”
Assertion Supported
Kaufer: TripAdvisor stayed profitable every quarter from March 2002 until the pandemic
“March marked our first month of profitability. Since we didn't know how long it would take to turn things around, if we could turn things around, we had cut back on everything non-essential, and so our burn rate was about 70, and March we made it a profitable …”