Skift Take
As the founder of private equity firm Certares, O’Hara has been one of the most active players in travel industry deal-making.
Key Points
Summary
Greg O'Hara is the founder of Certares, a private equity firm established in 2012 with nearly $11 billion in assets. He played a significant role in the $900 million joint venture to buy half of American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) in 2014, which has seen significant growth and went public in 2022 with a valuation of $5.3 billion. O'Hara has also been involved in numerous travel industry deals, including the acquisition of Egencia and plans to acquire CWT. His roles extend to chairmanships at the World Travel & Tourism Council and board memberships at TripAdvisor, Hertz Global Holdings, and Certares Holdings.
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Greg O’Hara founded the private equity firm Certares in 2012. It now has nearly $11 billion in assets. In 2014, Certares led a $900 million joint venture to buy half of American Express Global Business Travel, and to spin it out of American Express Co.
At that time, Amex GBT handled about $19 billion worth of corporate travel bookings. In 2023, that number was $28.2 billion, and the company generated $2.3 billion in revenue. It went public in 2022 at a valuation of $5.3 billion.
Amex GBT acquired Egencia from Expedia in 2021, among a string of other acquisitions. Amex GBT, earlier this year said it plans to acquire CWT for about $570 million.
O’Hara is currently the chair of the World Travel & Tourism Council and Amex GBT.
O’Hara has been involved in many travel industry deals. Certares was among three firms that bought Hertz in 2021 for $6 billion under a bankruptcy reorganization plan, focusing on integrating AI into operations and preparing for the future of carshare, electrification, and a digital-first user experience. O’Hara last year stepped down as board chair of Hertz.
Other Certares investments include Internova Travel Group, Latam Airlines, Liberty Tripadvisor (Tripadvisor’s controlling shareholder), and multiple hotels and hotel groups.
Before Certares, O’Hara was chief investment officer of JPMorgan Chase’s special investments group and managing director at One Equity Partners, the private equity arm of JPMorgan. Prior to that, he was an executive at travel tech company Worldspan, which later sold to Travelport.
In addition to his chairman roles at Amex GBT and the World Travel & Tourism Council, O’Hara is a board member of TripAdvisor, Hertz Global Holdings, and Certares Holdings.
O’Hara is Canadian and now lives in Italy.
Greg O’Hara at Skift Global Forum
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Tags: amex gbt, certares, egencia, hertz, skift power rankings