Articles tagged “sabre”

Don't count your deals before they've hatched. Coronavirus has killed valuations of many companies, and deals along with them. On the other hand, some companies, such as Grubhub, are in the right place at the right time.

Sabre's leadership team has been like an endurance runner in its strategy of patching up the security of the company's software, breaking down internal business silos, and moving Sabre's systems to the more stable cloud. This latest restructuring is the next phase.

The exact reasons for wanting to terminate the content deal aren’t clear, but Lufthansa’s direct-selling drive might have something to do with it.

Sabre is a bellwether for the global travel industry as a major processor of transactions for airlines and hotels. The picture isn't pretty. But the company looks capable of weathering a delayed resumption in travel.

Farelogix CEO Jim Davidson says the pandemic presents opportunities. Yet despite that brave face, it's hard to see Farelogix facing anything but revenue declines during the crisis now that it's lost the Sabre acquisition.

It's a significant step since the launch of Southwest Business last year, designed to tap into the travel management community. Before the crisis, roughly a third of the airline’s traffic was corporate travel. This move could help it boost that market share.

This decision is no surprise. The world has changed a lot since November 2018, when Sabre first proposed buying travel tech vendor Farelogix. Actions by antitrust watchdogs in the UK and the U.S. delayed the deal's approval. Then coronavirus hurt Sabre's finances.

We read the 100-page rulings on the proposed merger of Sabre and Farelogix so you don't have to. Airlines want to take over a lot of the tech work from Sabre and its rivals and pay travel agencies directly for bookings. American Airlines says the new model has already saved it millions. But the rulings found few tech vendors up to the task.

Sabre's arguments that UK regulators would merely fall in line if a U.S. court backed Sabre's merger with Farelogix were naive. The UK ruling was essentially correct about the proposed deal stifling innovation, and somewhere airlines are quietly celebrating the ruling.

Sabre and Farelogix paid $20 million in lawyers' fees in 2019 to respond to U.S. government reviews of their proposed merger and to defend against antitrust proceedings. Is there an antitrust case to be had against Big Law?