Google’s Search Ad Embrace Crushes Online Travel Agents
- Expedia, TripAdvisor shed about a quarter of market value
- Google pushes travel websites down in free search results
The Expedia app.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Google’s moves to cram the top of its search results with more and more advertising is hammering the online travel industry, one of the company’s biggest customers.
Expedia Group Inc. fell the most in 14 years on Thursday and TripAdvisor Inc. dropped the most in two years after the companies reported dismal third-quarter results and laid the blame on Google. Booking Holdings Inc.’s shares dropped 8%, too, wiping out a combined market value of more than $13 billion from the three online travel agents.