Booking expects to grow 2024 gross bookings ‘slightly faster than 7%’

David Goulden, Booking Holdings CFO, stated on last night’s earnings call: “At recent FX rates, we expect changes in FX will negatively impact our reported growth rate by a little more than 1 percentage point. With that framework and with FX in mind, we expect to grow our full year 2024 gross bookings slightly faster than 7% including the assumption that the war in the Middle East will negatively impact our full year 2024 growth rate by 1%. We expect revenue for the year to grow at similar rate to our gross bookings growth. We expect our more fixed expense in 2024 to grow in the low to mid-teens. We are planning for leverage from these more fixed expenses in 2025. We expect 2024 adjusted EBITDA will grow slightly faster than revenue, largely due to expectations for an increased direct mix. We expect adjusted EBITDA margins to expand year-over-year by a bit less than a percentage point. Lastly, we expect EPS growth to be above 40%. In closing, we are pleased with our Q4 results, our Q1 outlook and our expectation in 2024 for us to grow faster than 2019 across gross bookings, revenue, adjusted EBITDA and EPS with expanding EBITDA margin year-over-year. We expect 2024 to be another strong year for us.”