TripAdvisor

Tripadvisor was founded by Stephen Kaufer, Langley Steinert, Nick Shanny, and Thomas Palka in February 2000.Kaufer has stated the original idea was not a user generated social media review site:

We started as a site where we were focused more on those official words from guidebooks or newspapers or magazines. We also had a button in the very beginning that said, "Visitors add your own review", and boy, did that just take off. Seed money was obtained from Flagship Ventures, the Bollard Group, and private investors. In April 2009, Tripadvisor launched in China.In February 2020, the company changed its name from TripAdvisor to Tripadvisor, using a lowercase "a".On April 28, 2020, Tripadvisor notified employees the company will be eliminating 600 jobs in Canada and the United States and 300 more in other countries as part of a 25 percent reduction in their workforce around the world. The company also said they would be closing offices in downtown Boston and San Francisco . The reduction was due to the COVID-19 pandemic.On December 8, 2020, China blocked 105 apps, including Tripadvisor, from mobile app stores. The Cyberspace Administration of China stated that the apps were "illegal", and that public concerns were raised around "obscene, pornographic and violent information or fraud, gambling and prostitution".In November 2021, Kaufer announced that he will retire in 2022. He remains in his position until the new CEO is appointed.In March 2022, due to COVID-19 pandemic, Tripadvisor declared a partnership with the American company Walgreens to support safe travel during spring break and school vacations in the United States. In May of 2022, Matt Goldberg was announced as the new CEO of TripAdvisor.