Expedia Group, Inc.

Expedia Group, Inc. operates travel marketplaces and supplies booking technology and travel inventory to partners. Its consumer brands include Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo. The company trades on Nasdaq under EXPE and ends its fiscal year on December 31.

Quarterly results

Gross bookings measure the value of travel booked through the platform; revenue is the amount Expedia recognizes from its services. Room nights grew 7%. Revenue rose 12% and adjusted EBITDA rose 17%. The adjusted profit measure excludes stock compensation, depreciation and amortization, specified restructuring and legal or occupancy-tax items, and other defined adjustments.

B2B revenue rose to $1.708 billion from $1.392 billion, supplying about 60% of the group revenue increase. Its adjusted EBITDA rose to $470 million from $402 million, while margin declined to 27.5% from 28.9%. Management cited partner mix and higher commission tiers as the primary pressure, with acquisition investment a smaller factor.

B2C revenue rose to $3.065 billion from $2.883 billion. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $1.331 billion from $1.174 billion, about 65% of the group's additional adjusted EBITDA. Margin expanded to 43.5% from 40.7%, supported by better consumer-marketing returns and cost discipline.

Adjusted net income rose to $1.148 billion from $962 million. Adjusted diluted shares fell to 122.280 million from 127.072 million, supporting EPS growth. The prior GAAP diluted share count was higher because it treated convertible securities differently.

Forecasts and earlier expectations

The original August Q3 forecast called for gross bookings of $32.2 billion to $32.8 billion, revenue of $4.65 billion to $4.75 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $1.51 billion to $1.56 billion. Actual results exceeded all three upper endpoints.

The current annual revenue range is $16.37 billion to $16.43 billion, up from August's $16.05 billion to $16.22 billion and February's $15.6 billion to $16 billion. Annual gross bookings are now expected at $131.4 billion to $131.9 billion, versus $129.5 billion to $130.8 billion in August and $127 billion to $129 billion initially.

Expected annual adjusted EBITDA margin expansion increased to 1.8 to 2 percentage points, from 1.5 to 1.75 points in August and 1 to 1.25 points initially. The annual growth outlook includes currency effects.

For Q4, revenue is expected at $3.69 billion to $3.75 billion, gross bookings at $27.9 billion to $28.4 billion and adjusted EBITDA at $830 million to $880 million. Management expects slower growth because of softer travel conditions, comparisons with partner promotions and the earlier fall sale. Consumer marketing efficiency remains an opportunity, but the comparison is becoming harder.

Cash generation, debt and shareholder returns

Quarterly operating cash outflow was $1.157 billion; after $242 million of capital spending, free cash outflow was $1.399 billion. Expedia receives money for many merchant bookings before paying suppliers, and this working-capital benefit typically reverses in the second half as travelers complete stays.

Nine-month operating cash flow nevertheless rose to $4.252 billion from $3.576 billion. Free cash flow increased to $3.627 billion from $2.991 billion. Over the twelve months ended September 30, free cash flow was $3.746 billion, versus $2.998 billion in the previous twelve-month period.

Unrestricted cash and short-term investments totaled $5.567 billion at September 30. Restricted cash of $1.543 billion, mainly traveler deposits, is separate. Debt had a $5.460 billion carrying value, including $749 million classified as current. The $2.5 billion revolver was undrawn; $66 million of letters of credit reduced available capacity.

Expedia repurchased $576 million of shares in Q3 and $1.476 billion over nine months under its buyback program. The $1.727 billion treasury-stock cash-flow line also includes share activity related to vesting awards. About $5.094 billion of authorization remained at September 30. The quarterly dividend remains $0.48 per share, payable December 10 to November 18 holders.

Completed acquisitions and investment sale

Expedia completed three acquisitions in the first nine months of 2026: two B2B travel businesses and one B2C AI trip-planning company. Aggregate consideration was $676 million, including $4 million accrued, with $124 million of cash acquired. Their combined effect on consolidated revenue and operating income was not material.

Management identified CarTrawler as a completed B2B acquisition near the end of Q3. It did not disclose a separate price in the material reviewed. Investment in the acquired businesses and the wider partner platform adds some near-term margin pressure.

Long Lake completed its take-private acquisition of Global Business Travel Group on September 29. Expedia's sale of its investment created a $711 million receivable at September 30, with cash received in October. Those proceeds were not in the September cash balance or nine-month cash flow.

Tax dispute

During Q3, the IRS replaced earlier transfer-pricing adjustments for 2011 through 2016 and added proposed adjustments for 2017 and 2018. Together, the proposed federal tax amounts range from $988 million to $1.224 billion before interest. Expedia disputes them and is pursuing administrative procedures.

The key developments are whether fast-growing partner sales can improve margins, whether consumer-marketing gains remain durable, and how acquisitions, capital returns and the tax proceedings affect cash.