Trip.com dividend: payment, coverage and yield
Trip.com’s latest stated dividend is US$0.30 per share. Free cash flow covers the dividend, while the company also uses cash for buybacks and retains some after shareholder payments.
How much does Trip.com pay shareholders per share?
The company has begun returning more of that cash to shareholders. Its November 2023 policy allows buybacks, dividends, or both. In February 2025, the board approved a US$0.30-per-share dividend. It also authorized up to US$400 million of additional repurchases. In August 2025, it authorized a further repurchase program of up to US$5 billion. These authorizations create room to buy shares; they do not guarantee that the full amount will be spent.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| − Paid to minority owners, per share | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| − Dividends paid, per share | 2.04 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| − Share buybacks, per share | 6.29 | 3.15 | 2.41 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| = FCF not paid out, per share | 11.12 | 24.48 | 29.48 | 3.26 | 3.00 |
What this means. Free cash flow per share is higher than real free cash flow per share because the latter subtracts the value of shares given to employees as pay.
Does Trip.com’s cash cover its dividend?
The remaining weakness is visibility. The supplied figures do not separate spending on equipment and software from other operating cash uses, so they cannot show precisely how much cash Trip.com reinvested in its platform. The broad conclusion is still firm: the company used acquisitions to build reach, then used stronger cash generation to repay debt and begin returning capital, while the standalone returns from several major expansion bets remain hidden.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free cash flow | 13,582 | 19,034 | 21,398 | 2,144 | 1,905 |
| − Dividends paid | 1,423 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| − Share buybacks | 4,396 | 2,172 | 1,617 | 0 | 0 |
| = Free cash flow not paid out | 7,763 | 16,862 | 19,781 | 2,144 | 1,905 |
| Paid to shareholders | 5,819 | 2,172 | 1,617 | 0 | 0 |
| Paid out, % of free cash flow | 42.8% | 11.4% | 7.6% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
What this means. Free cash flow includes cash lent by Trip.com's financial-services arm, so it is not just cash produced by its travel business.
What could change Trip.com’s dividend?
The base dividend is CNY2.16 per share, repeating the prior US$0.30 payment. The bear case pays zero because the dividend has been intermittent and the board can prioritize investment or buybacks. The bull case rises from CNY2.88 to CNY4.32 as cash generation improves.
| October 2027 | October 2028 | October 2029 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal operating profit | 12,420 (9,825 / 16,800) | 13,875 (10,200 / 19,500) | 15,170 (11,520 / 22,620) |
| Shares (millions) | 632 (636 / 630) | 632 (640 / 628) | 632 (656 / 626) |
| Dividends per share | 2.16 (0.00 / 2.88) | 2.16 (0.00 / 3.60) | 2.16 (0.00 / 4.32) |
| Enterprise value to normal operating profit | 10.00 (7.00 / 14.00) | 10.50 (6.00 / 15.00) | 11.00 (6.00 / 16.00) |
| Net debt | -56,415 (-56,295 / -58,202) | -61,248 (-59,021 / -65,445) | -67,294 (-62,844 / -74,960) |
What is Trip.com’s dividend yield against its price?
The shares look inexpensive on reported earnings, but reported earnings are not the same as recurring travel profit. The trailing P/E divides the share price by recent earnings per share, so a one-off gain can make the ratio look artificially low. Trip.com’s 2025 profit included a RMB15.2 billion gain from selling part of its MakeMyTrip investment. The cash was real, but it came from selling an asset, not from earning more hotel commissions or ticket fees. The higher forward P/E therefore points toward more normal future earnings.