Malone, chairman of Liberty Interactive Corp. as well as several sister companies whose names start with Liberty, is known for engineering complex and lucrative financial arrangements. In August, he did a tax-free spinoff of Liberty Interactive’s controlling interest in TripAdvisor, a $9.7 billion website where users write reviews for vacation resorts.
That transaction may soon lead to another.
There are two ways it could work: TripAdvisor, to gain its independence, could choose to buy out shareholders of the $1.8 billion holding company, which is called Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings Inc. Or, larger rivals Priceline Group Inc. or Expedia Inc. could buy the holding company to seize control.
