Shares of Needham-based online travel site Tripadvisor dropped as much as 38 percent in Wednesday trading after the company backed away from a possible acquisition.
In February, Tripadvisor said its board had formed a committee to consider proposals to buy the company. But Tripadvisor said on Wednesday that “the Special Committee has determined that at this time, there is no transaction with a third party that is in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders.”
The company said it was still open to the possibility of a deal, but doesn’t plan to comment further “unless it has something definitive to share.” (Analysts in February had pointed to a potential buyer: New York private equity firm Certares Management, which owns a stake in Tripadvisor.)
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Tripadvisor also announced a first-quarter loss of 43 cents a share, largely due to a $42 million payment to the Internal Revenue Service to resolve an income tax dispute.
The travel company’s chief executive Matt Goldberg, who took over for longtime CEO Stephen Kaufer in 2022, has been working to boost the company’s growth, which took a steep hit during the pandemic.
Tripadvisor shares closed down more than 28 percent at $18.16 on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Wednesday.
Hiawatha Bray can be reached at hiawatha.bray@globe.com. Follow him @GlobeTechLab.