Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG) — research brief (BMC #083 on gallery, queue id 83)

Prepared 2026-10-11 (America/Chicago). Labels: FACT = stated by the company in its Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (filed 18 Feb 2026, audited) or its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 Jun 2026 (filed 4 Aug 2026, unaudited). SECONDARY = none used for figures. INFERENCE = ratios, growth rates or sums computed by this project from company numbers.

Sources (accessed 2026-10-11)

Form 10-K FY2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1075531/000107553126000009/bkng-20251231.htm
Form 10-Q, quarter ended 30 Jun 2026: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1075531/000107553126000037/bkng-20260630.htm
Company site: https://www.bookingholdings.com
Logo: project monogram ("B" on a blue tile), not Booking.com's or Booking Holdings' official mark. Trademark of its owner; identification only.

Teaching arc

Own no rooms, seats or tables: list millions of independent suppliers, buy traffic efficiently (and increasingly win it direct through the app), take about 14.5 cents of every booked dollar as commission, margin and payment fees, and shift from "hotel pays later" (agency) to "traveler pays now" (merchant) to add payment revenue and cash float — then turn the profit into buybacks.

Key numbers (FACT unless noted)

FY2025 (year ended Dec 31, 2025)

Revenue $26,917M (2024 $23,739M, +13.4%; 2023 $21,365M). Merchant $17,755M (+25.5%); agency $7,968M (-6.5%); advertising and other $1,194M (+11.3%). Revenue = 14.5% of gross bookings (2024: 14.3%). Shares of total (66% / 30% / 4%) are INFERENCE.
Gross bookings $186,107M (+12.4%): merchant $130,025M (+24.8%), agency $56,082M (-8.7%). Merchant mix 70% (2024: 63%).
Room nights 1,235M (+8.0%); rental car days 88M (+5.8%); airline tickets 68M (+36.6%). Flight gross bookings +29%, rental car gross bookings +9%.
Operating expenses $18,092M: marketing $8,186M (30.4% of revenue, 4.4% of gross bookings), sales and other $3,453M, personnel $3,403M, G&A $857M, IT $908M, D&A $623M, impairment $457M (KAYAK goodwill $180M + intangibles $277M), transformation costs $205M.
Operating income $8,825M (2024 $7,555M; margin 32.8% and +16.8% are INFERENCE). Interest expense $1,617M; interest and dividend income $921M; other expense, net $1,297M (incl. $1.4B unrealized currency loss on euro debt). Income tax $1,428M (20.9% effective; Dutch Innovation Box 9% vs 25.8% statutory). Net income $5,404M (2024 $5,882M; -8.1% and 20.1% margin are INFERENCE). Diluted EPS $165.57 pre-split ($6.62 after the 25-for-1 split, INFERENCE).
Operating cash flow $9,409M; additions to property and equipment $322M (cash flow statement), so cash after capex about $9,087M (INFERENCE). Buybacks $6,440M; dividends $1,248M; debt issued $3,681M, repaid $4,970M. Cash, equivalents and investments $17.8B (about $12.2B at international subsidiaries). Deferred merchant bookings $5.3B.
About 4.4M properties on Booking.com (about 500k hotels/motels/resorts, about 3.9M homes and other); alternative-accommodation share of Booking.com room nights about 36%. 220+ countries and territories, 40+ languages. About 24,300 employees (about 2,900 U.S.).
Direct-to-platform share of room nights and mobile-app share are each "a mid-fifties percentage." Performance marketing mostly search (primarily Google), affiliates, meta-search, social.
Revenue by geography (company classification): U.S. $2,579M; outside U.S. $24,338M (of which $21.7B from an entity domiciled in the Netherlands).
Transformation Program: about $250M savings in 2025; about $550M annual run-rate enabled by end of 2025; raised in the Q2 2026 10-Q to about $650M run-rate, with costs largely incurred by end of 2027.

H1 / Q2 2026 (10-Q, unaudited)

Revenue H1 $12,884M (+11.5%); Q2 $7,352M (+8.1%, about 1 point from currency). Merchant Q2 $5,127M (+15.0%); agency $1,903M (-6.9%); ad and other $322M (+8.1%).
Gross bookings H1 $104,716M (+12.1%); Q2 $50,957M (+9.0%). Room nights Q2 325M (+5.3%), H1 662M (+5.6%); Q2 growth slowed from Q1 (6%) due to the Middle East conflict.
Operating income H1 $3,771M (H1 2025 $3,312M); Q2 $2,500M. Net income H1 $3,033M (vs $1,228M); Q2 $1,950M (vs $895M).
Operating cash flow H1 $6,934M; repurchases H1 $7,814M (Q2 $3,792M); remaining authorization $14.5B; cash, equivalents and investments $17.7B; deferred merchant bookings $10.1B.
25-for-1 stock split effective Apr 2, 2026; quarterly dividend declared Aug 2026 of $0.42 per (post-split) share.

Cautions

Gross bookings is an operating metric, not revenue; revenue is recognized at check-in, so growth in revenue lags growth in bookings.
KAYAK and OpenTable do not contribute to gross bookings.
Per-share figures in the 10-Q are retroactively adjusted for the 25-for-1 split; the 10-K per-share figures are pre-split.
"Revenue per booking dollar" is a ratio, not a contractual commission rate; commission rates vary by property and market and are not disclosed in the filings.

# Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG) — research brief (BMC #083 on gallery, queue id 83) Prepared 2026-10-11 (America/Chicago). Labels: **FACT** = stated by the company in its Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (filed 18 Feb 2026, audited) or its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 Jun 2026 (filed 4 Aug 2026, unaudited). **SECONDARY** = none used for figures. **INFERENCE** = ratios, growth rates or sums computed by this project from company numbers. ## Sources (accessed 2026-10-11) - Form 10-K FY2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1075531/000107553126000009/bkng-20251231.htm - Form 10-Q, quarter ended 30 Jun 2026: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1075531/000107553126000037/bkng-20260630.htm - Company site: https://www.bookingholdings.com - Logo: project monogram ("B" on a blue tile), **not** Booking.com's or Booking Holdings' official mark. Trademark of its owner; identification only. ## Teaching arc **Own no rooms, seats or tables: list millions of independent suppliers, buy traffic efficiently (and increasingly win it direct through the app), take about 14.5 cents of every booked dollar as commission, margin and payment fees, and shift from "hotel pays later" (agency) to "traveler pays now" (merchant) to add payment revenue and cash float — then turn the profit into buybacks.** ## Key numbers (FACT unless noted) **FY2025 (year ended Dec 31, 2025)** - Revenue $26,917M (2024 $23,739M, +13.4%; 2023 $21,365M). Merchant $17,755M (+25.5%); agency $7,968M (-6.5%); advertising and other $1,194M (+11.3%). Revenue = 14.5% of gross bookings (2024: 14.3%). Shares of total (66% / 30% / 4%) are INFERENCE. - Gross bookings $186,107M (+12.4%): merchant $130,025M (+24.8%), agency $56,082M (-8.7%). Merchant mix 70% (2024: 63%). - Room nights 1,235M (+8.0%); rental car days 88M (+5.8%); airline tickets 68M (+36.6%). Flight gross bookings +29%, rental car gross bookings +9%. - Operating expenses $18,092M: marketing $8,186M (30.4% of revenue, 4.4% of gross bookings), sales and other $3,453M, personnel $3,403M, G&A $857M, IT $908M, D&A $623M, impairment $457M (KAYAK goodwill $180M + intangibles $277M), transformation costs $205M. - Operating income $8,825M (2024 $7,555M; margin 32.8% and +16.8% are INFERENCE). Interest expense $1,617M; interest and dividend income $921M; other expense, net $1,297M (incl. $1.4B unrealized currency loss on euro debt). Income tax $1,428M (20.9% effective; Dutch Innovation Box 9% vs 25.8% statutory). Net income $5,404M (2024 $5,882M; -8.1% and 20.1% margin are INFERENCE). Diluted EPS $165.57 pre-split ($6.62 after the 25-for-1 split, INFERENCE). - Operating cash flow $9,409M; additions to property and equipment $322M (cash flow statement), so cash after capex about $9,087M (INFERENCE). Buybacks $6,440M; dividends $1,248M; debt issued $3,681M, repaid $4,970M. Cash, equivalents and investments $17.8B (about $12.2B at international subsidiaries). Deferred merchant bookings $5.3B. - About 4.4M properties on Booking.com (about 500k hotels/motels/resorts, about 3.9M homes and other); alternative-accommodation share of Booking.com room nights about 36%. 220+ countries and territories, 40+ languages. About 24,300 employees (about 2,900 U.S.). - Direct-to-platform share of room nights and mobile-app share are each "a mid-fifties percentage." Performance marketing mostly search (primarily Google), affiliates, meta-search, social. - Revenue by geography (company classification): U.S. $2,579M; outside U.S. $24,338M (of which $21.7B from an entity domiciled in the Netherlands). - Transformation Program: about $250M savings in 2025; about $550M annual run-rate enabled by end of 2025; raised in the Q2 2026 10-Q to about $650M run-rate, with costs largely incurred by end of 2027. **H1 / Q2 2026 (10-Q, unaudited)** - Revenue H1 $12,884M (+11.5%); Q2 $7,352M (+8.1%, about 1 point from currency). Merchant Q2 $5,127M (+15.0%); agency $1,903M (-6.9%); ad and other $322M (+8.1%). - Gross bookings H1 $104,716M (+12.1%); Q2 $50,957M (+9.0%). Room nights Q2 325M (+5.3%), H1 662M (+5.6%); Q2 growth slowed from Q1 (6%) due to the Middle East conflict. - Operating income H1 $3,771M (H1 2025 $3,312M); Q2 $2,500M. Net income H1 $3,033M (vs $1,228M); Q2 $1,950M (vs $895M). - Operating cash flow H1 $6,934M; repurchases H1 $7,814M (Q2 $3,792M); remaining authorization $14.5B; cash, equivalents and investments $17.7B; deferred merchant bookings $10.1B. - 25-for-1 stock split effective Apr 2, 2026; quarterly dividend declared Aug 2026 of $0.42 per (post-split) share. ## Cautions - Gross bookings is an operating metric, not revenue; revenue is recognized at check-in, so growth in revenue lags growth in bookings. - KAYAK and OpenTable do not contribute to gross bookings. - Per-share figures in the 10-Q are retroactively adjusted for the 25-for-1 split; the 10-K per-share figures are pre-split. - "Revenue per booking dollar" is a ratio, not a contractual commission rate; commission rates vary by property and market and are not disclosed in the filings.