A global online travel company whose brands include Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK, and OpenTable, letting travelers book accommodations, flights, activities, and restaurant tables worldwide. It began in 1997 as Priceline.com, the brainchild of Jay Walker, whose "Name Your Own Price" bidding model let customers name their price for airline seats and hotel rooms. In 2005 it bought the Dutch startup Bookings.nl, which became Booking.com — the founders chose the singular "Booking" simply because it sounded cleaner.
Q2 2026 revenue rose 8.1% to $7.4B as Middle East conflict slowed room-night growth to 5%
The Middle East conflict kept weighing on travel demand this quarter. rose 8.1% to $7,352.0M and widened 0.9 points to 34.0% as 's shift to merchant lifted the top line, while rose 117.9% to $1,950.0M from a weak FX-hit year-ago quarter. The core business is growing, but geopolitical disruption is now a recurring drag on volume.
Key takeaways
rose 8.1% to $7,352.0M, driven by a 15% increase in as continued moving transactions from agency to merchant .
Global room nights increased 5% to 325M, a slowdown from Q1's 6% growth, with the Middle East conflict continuing to dampen long-haul international demand.
rose 117.9% to $1,950.0M and rose 130.0% to $2.53, against Q2 2025's $895.0M and $1.10 that were depressed by $989M in FX losses.
Section summaries
Management's Discussion and Analysis
Q2 2026 revenue rose 8% to $7.4B on 5% room night growth and merchant shift; marketing spend up 11% and Middle East conflict weighed on demand.
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Total revenues grew 8.1% to $7.4B, driven by a 15% jump in as continued shifting from agency to merchant .
rose 11.1% to $2,500.0M and widened 0.9 points to 34.0%, with marketing expenses up 10.8% to $2.4B on SEO declines and paid-channel investment.
Information technology costs rose 20.1% to $263M on higher cloud and software fees, while personnel costs were nearly flat at $900M.
was $6.9B for H1 2026 and the company held $17.7B in cash and investments with $14.5B left under its authorization.
What changed
The Middle East conflict first flagged in Q1 2026 as a ~2 point room-night hit persisted into Q2, slowing growth to 5% from 6% and confirming it was not a one-quarter event.
The $337M Italian tax settlement flagged across 2024-2025 filings was not resolved or charged again in Q2 2026, leaving it outstanding.
The $457M from Q3 2025 did not repeat in Q2 2026, and no further brand write-downs were disclosed this quarter.
Merchant growth was 15% in Q2 2026 versus 29% in Q2 2025 and 21% in Q1 2026, showing the shift's contribution moderating as the base scales.
Marketing efficiency slippage first seen in Q1 2025 continued, with Q2 marketing up 10.8% and the expense-to-gross- ratio ticking up on SEO traffic declines.
run-rate target was raised to ~$650M (majority in 2027) from the $550M end-2026 goal stated in Q1 2026 and FY 2025.
What to watch
Whether the Middle East conflict continues to hold room-night growth below 6% into Q3 2026 as cancellations and long-haul demand are tracked.
Resolution of the $337M Italian tax settlement and any new EU or national digital services tax charges in coming quarters.
Merchant growth rate next quarter versus Q2's 15%, and the sales/other expense ratio as payment processing scales.
Marketing expense ratio and ROI as Q2's 10.8% rise and SEO decline test whether paid-channel spend yields improving returns.
Global increased 5% to 325M, a sequential slowdown from Q1's 6% growth, reflecting the continued impact of the Middle East conflict on long-haul international travel demand.
Marketing expenses rose 10.8% to $2.4B, with the expense-to-gross- ratio ticking up slightly due to SEO traffic declines and investments in paid channels at attractive ROIs.
Information technology costs surged 20.1% to $263M on higher cloud computing and software license fees, while personnel costs were nearly flat at $900M.
was $6.9B for H1 2026, and the company held $17.7B in cash and investments, with $14.5B remaining under its authorization.
The is expected to deliver ~$650M in annual , with the majority of incremental savings above the $550M level realized in 2027.
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Primary market risks are interest rates, foreign exchange, and equity prices; a 100bps rate drop would raise debt fair value by ~$1.2B.
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A hypothetical 100 decrease in interest rates would increase the estimated of outstanding debt by approximately $1.2 billion.
Foreign currency translation, mainly from Euros and British Pounds, materially impacts reported growth; constant-currency rose ~8% for both periods versus 9% and 12% as reported.
Reported growth included a ~1% and ~3% benefit from FX changes for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively.
A hypothetical 10% decline in the of equity investments in public and private companies would result in a pre-tax loss of approximately $45 million recognized in .
The company directs readers to its 2025 10-K and specific financial statement notes for further details on risk-management policies and hedging.
A description of any material legal proceedings to which we are a party, and updates thereto, is included in Note 13 to our Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended June 30, 2026, and is incorporated in…
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A description of any material legal proceedings to which we are a party, and updates thereto, is included in Note 13 to our Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended June 30, 2026, and is incorporated into this Part II, Item 1 by reference thereto.
Our operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and the trading price of our common stock. For a discussion of such risks, please refer to Part…
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Our operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and the trading price of our common stock. For a discussion of such risks, please refer to Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 (the "2025 Form 10-K"), as supplemented by the risk factor set forth in Part II, Item 1A of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2026.