Expedia shareholders have approved the spin-off of TripAdvisor, the online travel review site. The deal — expected to occur on December 20th — will be preceded by a one-for-two reverse stock split of Expedia stock immediately prior to the spin-off.

TripAdvisor, which will be based in Newton, Massachusetts, is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker “TRIP.” Bellevue-based Expedia will continue to trade under the ticker “EXPE.”

The TripAdvisor business is growing faster than Expedia’s core travel booking service. During the third quarter, sales rose 30 percent at TripAdvisor to $180 million. Expedia, meanwhile, saw its sales increase 15 percent to $1.14 billion.

Expedia announced its intentions to split off TripAdvisor — which fell under the Expedia umbrella in 2004 — in April. Garnering its revenue from advertising, TripAdvisor attracts about 50 million visitors per month from users who check the site for hotel reviews and other travel information.

Expedia itself is a spin-off, having originally been formed at Microsoft 15 years ago.

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