Expedia has successfully spun off TripAdvisor.com as its own public company. TripAdvisor.com is currently trading on the stock market with the ticker symbol TRIP. Currently TripAdvisor has a market cap of about $4 billion.

Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) has acquired eLong, Inc. from Renren Inc. (NYSE:RENN). Expedia bought eLong for approximately $72.4 million ($23 per ADS). Expedia is the largest online travel company and Renren is a leading social networking company in China.

Tencent Holdings Ltd (HKG:0700) and Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) have invested $125.6 million into online Chinese travel service website eLong.com. Tencent put in $84.4 million for a 16% stake and Expedia put in $41.2 million to increase their stake to 56%.

Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) has announced today that they plan to spin off TripAdvisor.com off into a separate public company. The board has already signed off on the spin-off, but the deal is still pending based on a shareholder vote.

As you may remember, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has acquired ITA Software in July 2010 for $700 million. ITA Software is the provider of flight data for many travel websites including Kayak.com, Farelogix, Sabre Holdings, and Expedia. These companies are also forming a coalition called FairSearch.org in order to persuade the Justice Department to block the deal.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is rumored to be in discussions to acquire ITA Software.  ITA Software is a travel company that provides flight data to major web and mobile services such as Kayak.com and Orbitz.com.  ITA Software clients include American Airlines and Continental Airlines.