This week’s news includes TripAdvisor’s profit warning and pivot to quality experiences, an interview with iFAST CEO and MasterCard’s spend update.
iFAST CEO interview with Zuu: iFAST is aiming to be the Netflix of Fintech by providing banking and wealth management services to clients globally. Applying for a Singapore digital banking license is the first step to realizing this goal. Link
TripAdvisor and 2Q results: TripAdvisor warned that revenue in April and May 2020 was 90% lower year on year leading to a forecast USD85 million EBITDA loss for the second quarter of 2020. Here’s the good news: Revenue and user activity improved in June 2020 and the company expects the third quarter to be better than the second quarter. Bad 2Q results should be within expectations. Hotel ads made up ~87% of TripAdvisor’s EBITDA in 2019 and hotels are struggling this year. I think TripAdvisor has enough cash (USD693 million as of end-May 2020)...