The Trip.com class action lawsuit is a federal securities fraud case brought by investors who say the online travel giant hid the true scale of its antitrust exposure in China before a January 2026 regulatory probe wiped roughly $8 billion off its market value in a single day. The complaint, filed in the Eastern District of New York, focused on an AI-driven hotel pricing tool that regulators and hotel partners accused of monopolistic conduct. The original case was voluntarily dismissed in May 2026, but several plaintiffs’ firms have continued soliciting affected shareholders for a refiled action.
What Investors Are Alleging
The case, De Wilde v. Trip.com Group Limited, et al. (Case No. 1:26-cv-01420), was filed on March 11, 2026. It names Trip.com Group along with CEO Jane Jie Sun and CFO Cindy Xiaofan Wang as defendants.1ZLK. Trip.com Group Limited Class Action Lawsuit
The proposed class period runs from April 30, 2024 through January 13, 2026. During that window, according to the complaint, Trip.com’s SEC filings used hypothetical, boilerplate language about antitrust risk — phrasing like “could be adversely affected” — even though the company already faced escalating regulatory scrutiny that made the risk concrete rather than theoretical.2PR Newswire. TCOM Investor Alert
The complaint points to several facts investors say should have prompted more candid disclosures: Trip.com’s dominant share of China’s online travel market, its 2015 acquisition of Qunar, and the regional regulatory summons in Guizhou in August 2025 and Zhengzhou in September 2025. Taken together, plaintiffs argue, these showed the company knew its antitrust exposure was real and growing.1ZLK. Trip.com Group Limited Class Action Lawsuit
The AI Pricing Tool at the Center of the Case
The product driving both the government investigation and the investor lawsuit was an automated hotel pricing tool that Trip.com had publicly called “a cornerstone of our long-term strategy.” The tool scanned competitor rates and automatically lowered hotel prices on Trip.com’s platform when it detected higher prices elsewhere. It also required hotel partners to participate in promotions. Merchants who refused faced reduced visibility or delisting.3PR Newswire. Trip.com Group Shares Crater Amid Questions Over AI Price Adjustment Tool
Hotel partners described the system as “one-sided coercion” because it overrode their own pricing decisions without consent. Regulators later identified the same practices — forced promotional participation, undercutting competitors, and punishing merchants who pushed back — as evidence of monopolistic conduct.3PR Newswire. Trip.com Group Shares Crater Amid Questions Over AI Price Adjustment Tool
On March 8, 2026, Trip.com said it would shut down the automated pricing tool, effective March 10. The company said the move was intended to “curb irrational hotel price wars” and “restore pricing autonomy for hotel partners.”4PanDaily. Trip.com Tag Page
The Stock Crash That Triggered the Lawsuit
On January 14, 2026, Trip.com’s American Depositary Shares fell $12.90, a 17.05% drop, closing at $62.78. The stock lost another 2.35% the following day, for a roughly 19% decline across two sessions.5BusinessWire. Trip.com 72-Hour Deadline Alert In Hong Kong, shares fell about 19.23% on January 15.6CNBC. Trip.com Shares Plunge as China Opens Antitrust Probe Into Company The selloff erased more than $8 billion in market capitalization in a single day.7GlobeNewsWire. TCOM Shareholder Update
Those losses are what the class action seeks to recover.
The Chinese Antitrust Investigation Behind the Case
The trigger for the crash was an announcement by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) on January 14, 2026, that it had opened a formal investigation into Trip.com Group for suspected abuse of its dominant market position under the country’s Anti-Monopoly Law.8Skift. Trip.com Faces Antitrust Investigation as China Tightens Platform Rules The probe centered on the company’s hotel business, where Trip.com — through its flagship platform, subsidiary Qunar.com, and a 24% stake in Tongcheng Travel — controlled over 60% of China’s online travel market.9Caixin Global. China Opens Antitrust Probe Into Travel Giant Trip.com
Regulatory pressure had been building throughout 2025. Guizhou provincial regulators summoned Trip.com and four other platforms in August 2025. Similar meetings followed in Zhengzhou in September 2025. In December 2025, the tourism association in Yunnan province launched a consumer rights campaign targeting unfair industry practices.9Caixin Global. China Opens Antitrust Probe Into Travel Giant Trip.com Local tourism associations also complained that Trip.com was forcing merchants to sign exclusive agreements and increasing commission fees.6CNBC. Trip.com Shares Plunge as China Opens Antitrust Probe Into Company
Trip.com confirmed receipt of the investigation notice and said it would “actively cooperate” with regulators. Under Chinese anti-monopoly law, a company found to have abused a dominant position can be fined 1% to 10% of the prior year’s revenue. Analysts estimated the penalty could reach 4.9 billion yuan (roughly $703 million) based on 2025 revenue estimates.10Reuters. Shares of Trip.com Tumble in Hong Kong After Antitrust Probe
Where the Case Stands
The De Wilde complaint itself was short-lived. A Notice of Voluntary Dismissal was filed on May 12, 2026, and Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis ordered the case dismissed on May 26, 2026. No lead plaintiff was ever appointed.11CourtListener. De Wilde v. Trip.com Group Limited Docket
A voluntary dismissal in a securities class action often signals that a new lead plaintiff is expected to refile or consolidate the claims in a separate action rather than the end of the litigation. As of mid-2026, several law firms — including Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, Levi & Korsinsky, Robbins, the Rosen Law Firm, and Kahn Swick & Foti — continued to solicit affected investors. The lead plaintiff deadline in the original case had been set for May 11, 2026.12PR Newswire. Trip.com Group Limited Class Action Lawsuit Investors Face May 11 Deadline
Co-Founder Resignations and the Tool Shutdown
The lawsuit was not the only fallout. On February 26, 2026, Trip.com announced that its co-founders had resigned from the board of directors, effective February 25. The company gave no explanation.13Newsfile Corp. TCOM 2-Day Deadline The resignations came while the company was cooperating with the SAMR investigation. The board later appointed new independent directors, including May Yihong Wu and Iris Yang Xiao.14Yahoo Finance. Trip.com Group Board Shift No official connection was drawn between the departures and either the probe or the shareholder litigation.
Two weeks later, the automated pricing tool that had drawn the regulatory complaints was gone.