Booking Holdings 10-K Analysis: What GAAP Earnings Hide About the AI Bet
Booking Holdings generated $9.1 billion in free cash flow in FY2025 — a record — while GAAP earnings fell 8%. The $26.9 billion online travel agency's 10-K reveals why: $2.7 billion in accounting artifacts (FX losses on EUR debt, a KAYAK impairment, and convertible note charges) consumed the entire $1.67 billion operating improvement. Underneath the GAAP noise, adjusted EBITDA grew 20.5%, the merchant moat deepened to 70% of bookings, and the self-funding cash flow flywheel returned 84% of FCF to shareholders. The complication: the AI disruption that triggered a $457M write-down of KAYAK is the same force BKNG is betting $700M to harness.