On Dec. 22, a week before Greg Maffei re-upped as CEO of Liberty Media, chairman John Malone gave the executive control of TripAdvisor, regulatory filings show.

Perhaps Malone thought of the move as a signing bonus or a holiday gesture.

But for control-freak Malone, swapping his super-voting shares in Liberty TripAdvisor for Maffeis common shares was unprecedented, sources said.

Maffei thought so, too.

[Malone] became an A holder and I became the B holder, Maffei said at a conference on Wednesday, of the exchange that loaded him up with 10-votes-per-share Class B Liberty TripAdvisor stock.

Maffei then explained that, given Malones wealth and portfolio, it wasnt a huge amount and front-and-center in his mind. So he was probably kind enough to say, Greg, you take this one.

It was so kind that Maffeis interviewer noted, Its the first time Ive ever seen you turn red. However, on delving into the details, the exchange wasnt as simple as it seems.

Maffei gave Malone 3.0 million common A shares valued at $26.97per share, or $82.2 million on the day of the exchange.

Malone, in turn, gave Maffei 2.8 million super-voting B shares valued at $26.66 a share, or $73.9 million.

This means the package Malone received from the exchange netted him $8.3 million.

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John Malone transfers control of TripAdvisor to Liberty CEO