American Express to buy Tripadvisor’s restaurant booking platform TheFork in US$700 million deal

Michael Miller, equity analyst at Morningstar, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss American Express as they report mixed Q4 results.

American Express said on Monday it will buy restaurant booking platform TheFork from Tripadvisor in an all-cash deal worth US$700 million, sending shares of the online travel platform up 14 per cent in premarket trading.

Activist investor Starboard Value had in October last year pressed for TheFork’s sale, as Tripadvisor struggled to recover from pandemic-era disruptions and contend with heavy competition from rivals including Booking Holdings and Airbnb.

For American Express, buying TheFork will expand its dining network to 75,000 bookable venues and bolster its international business, which has been its fastest-growing segment for many years. It also builds on its acquisitions of dining platforms Resy and Tock.

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“Dining is one of the most important ways people engage with our brand,” said Rafa Marquez, president of international card services at American Express.

TheFork generated $232 million in revenue for the year ended March 31, a 25 per cent jump from a year earlier, according to Tripadvisor’s earnings report.

The restaurant management, booking and customer engagement platform connects millions of diners with more than 50,000 restaurants across 11 European countries, said American Express.

The deal is expected to close before the end of 2026 and TheFork will continue to operate under its existing leadership, it added.

Goldman Sachs served as financial adviser to Tripadvisor and TheFork.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil and Anshuman Tripathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda)