Finance
Burlington's stock has surged after the off-price retailer significantly outperformed expectations in its fourth-quarter results.
March 8, 2025
This month, Wall Street was left in awe as online travel platforms posted results that far exceeded expectations, thanks in part to what looks like a bustling holiday travel season.
Booking Holdings (BKNG $4,980.00, -0.68%), Expedia (EXPE $197.11, -4.01%), Airbnb (ABNB $146.11, -5.96%), and TripAdvisor (TRIP $15.11, -8.36%) all reported earnings that surpassed the predictions of analysts polled by FactSet. Excluding TripAdvisor, each company has seen stock price growth that outperformed the S&P 500 in the past month.
Here are the key takeaways from this earnings season:
Booking Holdings—parent company of Booking.com, OpenTable, and Kayak—continues to lead the pack.
As a trailblazer in the “agency model,” Booking was among the first to connect customers with merchants and earn commissions from hotels and airlines once a sale was made. However, it’s now shifting toward the "merchant model" used by its competitor, Expedia, which involves purchasing accommodations at wholesale prices and reselling them to travelers. This strategic move positions Booking Holdings to stay ahead of the curve.
Booking’s revenue towers over its competitors, raking in a staggering $23.7 billion in 2024, compared to Expedia’s $13.6 billion and Airbnb’s $11.1 billion. Remarkably, Booking is the only major travel platform to have outpaced the S&P 500 since Airbnb’s IPO in December 2020.
The Rising Goldmine of Experiences
While Booking and Expedia dominate the flight, hotel, and rental car market, a new wave of demand is rising: travelers are increasingly seeking experiences. This growing interest presents a lucrative opportunity—connecting someone from Ohio with a scuba instructor in the Bahamas could be a profitable venture.
Although TripAdvisor has lagged behind its competitors overall, its standout performer has been Viator, its platform for tours and activities. "Experiences are becoming the strategic and financial core of our business, and we’re focused on leveraging our unique assets to lead in this rapidly expanding market," said Matt Goldberg, CEO of TripAdvisor, on February 20.
Airbnb is also jumping back into the experiences space, planning a relaunch of its “Experiences” service in May 2025. CEO Brian Chesky acknowledged that the platform’s first attempt at this offering didn’t live up to expectations, partially due to its lack of promotion. "The integration of Experiences into our product wasn’t as seamless as it should have been," Chesky confessed during a February 13 analyst call.
Presented by Turn Therapeutics
When faced with a deadly infection boasting a 70% fatality rate and no existing cure, Bradley Burnam did what most wouldn’t dare—he created the solution himself. Enter Hexagen: a groundbreaking formula that Burnam personally shepherded through the FDA clearance process for just $24,000. But he didn’t stop there. Building on this success, Burnam expanded the technology, secured two additional FDA clearances, and founded a company that’s rewriting the rules on self-made medical innovation: Turn Therapeutics.
Hexagen isn’t just breaking barriers; it’s healing them. Cleared for acute wound care and atopic dermatitis, this powerhouse formula is now on the brink of a bigger leap. Turn, the company behind Hexagen, is paving the way to expand its applications, proving there’s much more to its potential than meets the eye.
Turn just locked in a game-changing commitment—up to $75M in investment from GEM Global Yield Fund. This private equity boost is tied to the company’s plans to go public, setting the stage for Turn to make bold moves in the market spotlight..2
Turn is rolling out institutional, accredited, and unaccredited investors to participate in their current crowdfunding campaign — but only until January 2025.3
When you think of social media, LinkedIn might not be the first name that comes to mind. Yet, this quirky mix of job listings, unsolicited advice, humble-bragging, spam, and the occasional genuinely valuable connection has quietly transformed into a gold mine for its parent company, Microsoft (MSFT $408.00, -1.92%).
While spending too much time on LinkedIn might have you scrolling through posts that could belong in the "r/LinkedInLunatics" subreddit—where people share the wildest content from the platform—the reality is, more and more professionals are engaging with it.
Just last week, Microsoft revealed record-breaking user engagement on LinkedIn, with comments soaring 37% year-over-year. Even more impressive, millions have subscribed to LinkedIn Premium, propelling the platform to earn over $2 billion in revenue from its AI-enhanced premium services in the last year alone. LinkedIn’s financial contribution is significant, generating $16 billion in 2024—more than the combined revenues of The New York Times, Zoom, and DocuSign.
Since 2023, Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has been steadily enhancing its paid tier with a variety of AI-driven features designed primarily for job seekers. These include auto-generated messages and AI-powered suggestions for job matches, making the platform even more appealing. The latest numbers show these features are working—premium subscriptions have surged by around 50% over the past two years, as LinkedIn entices its 1 billion users to open their wallets.
Not stopping there, LinkedIn has also dipped into the gaming trend, launching four new games in 2024, taking a page from The New York Times’ playbook. This move aligns with the platform's strategy of expanding its appeal to all demographics—a tactic that, somehow, is resonating even with younger users.
For younger generations, hopping onto the same platforms their parents use (looking at you, Facebook) is often met with resistance. But as Gen Z enters the workforce, LinkedIn is becoming part of the picture. In fact, the number of American Gen Z users on LinkedIn grew by 14% in 2024, according to Insider Intelligence. However, Gen Z’s approach to the site is much different than previous generations.
In the past, being personal or authentic on LinkedIn was seen as unprofessional or desperate. Fast forward to 2025, and being a "thinkfluencer" is a legitimate strategy to boost your "personal brand"—if that’s your thing. In fact, daily posting on LinkedIn has become a proven method for generating leads, even if it feels a bit awkward. Small business owners have confirmed that sharing insights regularly on the platform is a key tactic for attracting new business.
While some cringe-worthy LinkedIn posts—from CEOs shedding tears over layoffs to colleagues over-sharing B2B sales lessons—are immortalized on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), they haven’t deterred top-level executives from engaging on the site. In fact, CEO posts on LinkedIn grew 23% in 2024 alone, as high-level leaders look to share relatable narratives about their businesses, moving beyond just corporate numbers.
LinkedIn is also doubling down on appealing to a generation that grew up posting about every aspect of their lives. To keep up, the site introduced vertical video features last year, and they’ve taken off. Video uploads on the platform rose by 36% year-over-year, making video the fastest-growing content type.
So just how dominant is LinkedIn in the professional networking space? Traffic data from Similarweb gives a glimpse. While there’s a drop-off on weekends, it’s not as significant as one might expect, showing just how deeply ingrained LinkedIn has become in the daily routine of professionals worldwide.
Presented by Miso Robotics
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Carmy’s tattooed arms may no longer be the most distinctive ones in the kitchen.
With fast food brands facing 150% annual turnover rates, they’re turning to Miso’s AI-powered kitchen robot, Flippy, to boost profits up to 4X and curb labor shortages.
Miso is already a leading force in kitchen AI and automation, with 150K+ hours of experience for brands like Jack in the Box.
Now, they’re manufacturing Flippy Fry Station – a robot 50% smaller and 2X faster than its predecessor. Its first small-scale production run sold out in seven days. And that sellout’s just the start.
In 2025, Miso’s ready to scale and targeting 170+ U.S. fast food brands in need – a potential $4B annual revenue opportunity. Invest1 in Miso today (and secure limited bonus shares).2
Advertiser's disclosures:
¹ The Company's Formula (Gx-03/Hexagen/Atopx) Has Received 510k Marketing Approval As A Medical Device Indicated For The Management Of Symptoms Related To Atopic Dermatitis/Eczema. The Formula Has Not Received Approval As A Drug For The Treatment Of Eczema Or Onychomycosis.
² A plan to IPO is no guarantee that an actual IPO will occur.
³ Please read the offering circular and related risks at StartEngine’s Turn Therapeutics webpage. This is a paid advertisement for Turn Therapeutics Regulation CF Offering. This Reg CF offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.
Investing in private company securities is not suitable for all investors because it is highly speculative and involves a high degree of risk. It should only be considered a long-term investment. You must be prepared to withstand a total loss of your investment. Private company securities are also highly illiquid, and there is no guarantee that a market will develop for such securities.
