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FORT WORTH, Texas and SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 4, 1999 - Sabre
Holdings Corporation (NYSE: TSG) and Preview Travel, Inc. (Nasdaq: PTVL)
today announced the creation of a new company that combines Sabre�s Travelocity.com
division with Preview Travel. The transaction creates the clear leader
in online travel, a new company that will be known as Travelocity.com.
Sabre will retain 70 percent ownership of the new company with the remaining 30 percent owned by Preview Travel stockholders. The new company will benefit from a new, five-year contract with America Online, Inc. that makes Travelocity.com the exclusive reservations engine for all travel-related services within the AOL service, AOL.COM, CompuServe, Digital City and Netscape, and provides Travelocity.com with a share of specified travel-related advertising revenues. In addition, Yahoo! Inc. has extended its existing contract with Travelocity.com and has agreed to invest in the new entity. The merger creates a new powerhouse in the online travel market, the largest retail e-commerce category, projected to grow from $7.8 billion in 1999 to $32.1 billion by 2004.(2) The new, combined company will have more than 17 million registered memberships and more than eight million unique monthly visitors�making it 50 percent larger than the next largest online travel agency site.(3) Travelocity.com will have established distribution relationships with America Online/Netscape, Yahoo!, Lycos, Go Network, Excite, @Home and CompuServe, among other leading Internet sites. Combined travel sales for the two companies in the first half of 1999 totaled more than $467 million. The new company is projected to be the third largest e-commerce site after Amazon.com and eBay4, and one of the top ten travel agencies based on 1999 booking estimates.(5) At the close of the transaction, the combined business will be headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, with a significant operating presence in San Francisco. Terrell B. Jones, president of Travelocity.com, will be the president and chief executive officer of the new company. Donald J. Carty, chairman of Sabre Inc., will serve as chairman of the board until a new Sabre chief executive officer is named. James Hornthal, founder and chairman of Preview Travel, Inc., will serve as vice chairman. �The new Travelocity.com will bring together the very best of Travelocity and Preview Travel�two successful and talented organizations�to create an unparalleled combination of content and innovative services to online consumers,� Terrell B. Jones said. �We�ve long admired the Preview Travel site for the experience it provides consumers. Going forward, as the leader in online travel, our focus will continue to be on providing the best shopping opportunities and customer support available anywhere�online or offline.� �Bringing together the innovative technology solutions of Sabre�s Travelocity.com with Preview Travel�s effective integration of content, community, commerce and world-class customer service will benefit our customers and our partners,� James Hornthal said. �We expect the additional scale that we will achieve throughout the enterprise to translate into long-term consumer and stockholder value.� America Online Agreement
Yahoo! Agreement
Merger Structure
The merger has been approved by both Sabre and Preview Travel boards
of directors, and is expected to close in first quarter 2000. The transaction
is subject to regulatory approval, customary closing conditions and requires
approval by Preview Travel�s stockholders.
Shareholder Benefits
Once the two sites are fully integrated, the new Travelocity.com will use the Sabre computer reservations system, strengthening Sabre as the largest processor of travel transactions on the Internet and the leader in all other channels of travel distribution. Sabre will consolidate the financial results of the new company into its own financial reporting and will continue to trade under the symbol TSG on the New York Stock Exchange. AMR�s majority-ownership of Sabre is unaffected by this transaction. �Consolidation in growing markets is inevitable. The drive to achieve global scale is incredibly compelling for us and our strategic marketing partners,� said Chris Clouser, president and chief executive officer of Preview Travel, Inc. �By combining resources with Travelocity, we are able to help write the next chapter in online travel. We expect our clear leadership position will pay important dividends, now and in the future, for our customers, employees and shareholders.� About Travelocity.com
Travelocity.com is owned and operated by Sabre. Travelocity.com provides reservations capabilities for 95 percent of all airline seats sold, more than 42,000 hotels, more than 50 car rental companies and more than 70,000 vacation packages. This reservations capability is paired with access to a vast database of destination and interest information. About Preview Travel
Preview Travel provides online travel services for leisure and small-business travelers. It offers one-stop shopping for airline tickets, vacation packages, car rentals, hotels and cruises, as well as integrated access to travel information, merchandise, news and world-class customer service. About Sabre
Statements in this news release about anticipated or expected future revenue and earnings growth are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Sabre and Preview Travel on the date of this release. Any forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in the forward-looking statements. Sabre and Preview Travel undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. 1 Travel sales are the aggregate dollar values of the
total amounts paid by consumers for air, car, hotel, vacation and cruise
products, net of cancellations.
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Also See: | Travelocity.com Partners with www.go.com / Aug 1999 |
The SABRE Group Records an Online Travel Sales Week Volume of $9 Million; $285 Million in Online Travel Sales for 1998 / Jan 1999 |