Sabre Corporation
Sabre Corporation is a travel technology company based in Southlake, Texas.[3][4][5] It is the largest global distribution systems provider for air bookings in North America.[6] American Airlines founded the company in 1960, and it was spun off in 2000.[7][8]
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Type | Public |
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Industry | Travel technology Travel services |
Founded | 1960 |
Headquarters | , |
Key people | Karl Peterson[1] (executive chairman) Sean Menke (president and CEO) |
Products | TripCase GetThere Sabre Airline Solutions Sabre Travel Network Sabre Hospitality Solutions |
Revenue | ![]() |
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Total assets | ![]() |
Total equity | ![]() |
Number of employees | 9,950 (2020) |
Website | www.sabre.com |
In 2007, Texas Pacific Group and Silver Lake Partners acquired what was then Sabre Holdings.[9][10] Sabre began publicly trading on the NASDAQ in 2014.[5]
History
Early history
In 1953, C.R. Smith, the president of American Airlines, met Blair Smith, an IBM salesman, on a flight and developed the Sabre (the Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment) concept.[11][12] The system was based on SAGE, the first major system to use interactive real-time computing, which IBM had developed for military use.[12]
Sabre Corporation was founded in 1960 by American Airlines.[13] Sabre Corporation installed the first Sabre reservation system in Briarcliff Manor, New York that year.[11] The system consisted of two IBM 7090 mainframe computers and processed 84,000 calls per day.[11][12]
In 1964, Sabre's nationwide network was completed and became the largest commercial real-time data-processing system in the world.[12] Sabre Corporation handled 7500 passenger reservations per hour in 1965.[11] The Sabre system upgraded to IBM System/360 and moved to a new center in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1972.[14]
In 1976, the Sabre system was installed into a travel agency for the first time.[13] This allowed travel agents to have instant access to flights.[13] By the end of the year, 130 locations installed the Sabre system.[12] Sabre introduced BargainFinder, the industry's first automated low-fare search capability, in 1984.[15] The following year, easySabre was launched.[16] It gave consumers with personal computers access to the Sabre system to make airline, hotel and car rental reservations.[16]
In 1989 The New York Times reported Sabre having "about 38 percent of the reservations market."[17]
In 1996, the company launched Travelocity, an online travel agency.[18] Sabre formed a joint venture with Abacus International in 1998 to create the SabreSonic passenger solution, a customized version of Sabre's reservations system to Abacus subscribers in Asia.[19]
2000s
AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines, spun off its controlling stake in Sabre Corporation in 2000[3] to form an independent company.[20]
In 2001, Electronic Data Systems (EDS) purchased Sabre Holdings,[7] and Sabre began migrating its old mainframe for air travel shopping and pricing to HP NonStop and Linux servers.[21] In 2005, the company acquired lastminute.com, an online travel and leisure retailer.[22]
Texas Pacific Group and Silver Lake Partners acquired Sabre Corporation in March 2007.[10][23][24] In March 2010, the company acquired Calidris, a revenue integrity and business intelligence solutions company.[25] Sabre Corporation acquired SoftHotel, a web-based property management solutions provider, in June 2011.[26] The company launched Sabre Red App Centre in March 2012.[27] In April 2014, Sabre Corporation went public on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol SABR.[5][6] The IPO sold for $16 per share and valued Sabre at $3.93 billion.[28][29] The company acquired Genares, a hospitality technology company, that September.[30]
In December 2014, Bravofly Rumbo Group acquired Sabre European Online Travel Agency, lastminute.com.
In January 2015, Sabre sold its Travelocity brand to Expedia, Inc. for $280 million.[31][32][33] In July 2015, Sabre acquired Abacus International, a global distribution system based in the Asia-Pacific region. The deal included long-term distribution agreements between Sabre and the 11 Asian airlines that previously shared ownership of Abacus.[34]
In June 2016, Sabre announced Tom Klein would resign as CEO by the end of 2016.[35][36]
Operations
The company is based in Southlake, Texas and has additional offices in London, Kraków, Bangalore, Montevideo and Singapore.[37] In December 2013, the company handled approximately 85,000 data transactions every second for customers according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.[38] At the time, the company did business with 70 airlines and 100,000 hotels.[38] It operates under the platforms Sabre Travel Network, Airline and Hospitality Solutions.
Businesses
- GetThere
- Sabre Airline Solutions
- Sabre Travel Network
- Sabre Hospitality Solutions
- TripCase
Acquisitions
- Preview Travel (2000)[22]
- Dillion Communication Systems (2000)[39]
- Gradient Solutions (2000)[40]
- GetThere (2000)[41]
- Sabre Pacific (2001)
- Nexion Inc. (2003)[42]
- David R. Bornemann Associates (2001)[43]
- Site59 (2001)[44]
- Resfeber Scandinavia (2002)[45]
- Kiehl Hendrickson Group (2002)[46]
- axsResource Airport Resource Management Solutions (2003)[47]
- World Choice Travel (2003)[48]
- RM Rocade (2004)[49]
- Showtickets.com (2004)[50]
- SynXis Corporation (2004)[51]
- Southwest Travel Systems (2005)[52]
- IgoUgo.com (2005)[53]
- Lastminute.com (2005)[54]
- E-site Marketing (2007)[55]
- Flight Explorer (2008)[56]
- EB2 (2008) [57]
- Calidris (2010) [58]
- Flightline Data Services (2010) [59]
- f:wz (2010)[60]
- SoftHotel (2011)[61]
- Prism (2012)[62]
- Genares (2014) [63]
- Abacus International (2015)
- Trust International (2015)[64]
- Airpas Aviation (2016)[65]
References
- Driskill, Matt (15 January 2020). "Sabre Corporation names new chairman | Asian Aviation | Magazine". Asian Aviation. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- "2019 Q4 Earning Release (PDF)". 26 February 2020.
- Wichter, Zach (29 April 2019). "How One Computer System Tangled Up Several Airlines". The New York Times.
- Ciaccia, Chris (17 April 2014). "Travelocity Owner Sabre Holdings Returns to Wall Street After IPO".
- Murray, Lance (4 April 2014). "Sabre Holdings sets IPO valuation at up to $4.1B". American City Business Journals.
- "Travelocity owner Sabre's IPO prices at $16 per share -underwriter". 16 April 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- Levere, Jane L. (16 March 2001). "Electronic Data Systems to Buy Sabre Airline Computer Unit". The New York Times.
- "American Airlines Assails Sabre in Data-Business Trial". 25 October 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- Sorkin, Andrew Ross (11 December 2006). "Equity Firms in Talks to Buy Sabre Holdings". The New York Times.
- "TPG and Silver Lake take Sabre private". Travel Weekly. 9 April 2007.
- MCMILLAN, ROBERT (27 July 2012). "Forget the Booze. The Mad Men's Best Friend Was SABRE". Wired.
- Anthes, Gary (31 May 2004). "Sidebar: Sabre Timeline". Computerworld.
- SNYDER, BRETT (7 January 2011). "Sabre Makes the Wrong Choice By Removing American Airlines". CBS News.
- McKenney, James L. (1 January 1995). Waves of Change: Business Evolution Through Information Technology.
- "American Airlines Reveals Limits Of World-Class IT". 26 January 2012.
- Vervest, Peter; Dunn, Al (2000). How to Win Customers in the Digital World: Total Action Or Fatal Inaction.
- "Sabre System Cuts Its Price". The New York Times. 20 April 1989.
- Jainchill, Johanna (4 June 2012). "Travelocity fights to regain market share". Travel Weekly.
- Wada, Isae (4 March 1998). "Sabre Finalized Abacus Pact". Travel Weekly.
- KOO, CAROLYN (14 December 1999). "AMR Climbs on Sabre Spinoff". TheStreet.com.
- Anthes, Gary (31 May 2004). "Sabre Flies to Open Systems".
- "Sabre Holdings Completes Acquisition of lastminute.com". 20 July 2005.
- "Equity Firms in Talks to Buy Sabre Holdings". 11 December 2006.
- "Silver Lake, Texas Pacific To Buy Sabre Holdings". 12 December 2006.
- "Sabre Acquires Calidris". 31 March 2010.
- "Sabre Holdings Acquires SoftHotel". 30 June 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- Schaal, Dennis (6 March 2012). "Should Sabre be red-faced about Sabre Red App Centre launch?". Phocuswire.
- Samantha Nielson (25 September 2014). "Maverick Capital establishes position in Sabre Corporation". Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Travelocity owner Sabre takes flight on $627M IPO". 17 April 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Sabre acquires global hospitality technology company". 21 September 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- Expedia Inc acquires Travelocity in $280 million deal. Reuters, 26 January 2015
- Robinson-Jacobs, Karen (23 January 2015). "Sabre sells Travelocity to Expedia for $280 million". Dallas Morning News.
- "Expedia Buys Booking Site Travelocity for $280M in Cash". Inc. Associated Press. 23 January 2015.
- Rudnansky, Ryan (1 July 2015). "Sabre Acquires Abacus International for $411M". TravelPulse.
- "Sabre Corporation Announces CEO Transition" (Press release). Sabre Corporation. 20 June 2016.
- Shine, Conor (20 June 2016). "Sabre Corporation's CEO Tom Klein to resign at year's end". Dallas Morning News.
- "Sabre Corporation". Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- FUQUAY, JIM (5 December 2013). "Think of Sabre Holdings as a data company, CEO says". Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
- "Sabre acquires stake in German CRS". 11 July 2000. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "E-Business: Sabre acquires Dublin-based Gradient Solutions". 17 August 2000. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Sabre buys GetThere for $757 million, announces layoffs". 29 August 2000. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Nexion adds 60-member host agency to network". Travel Weekly. 19 January 2005.
- "Sabre Acquires Software Developer". Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Travelocity.com Buys Site59 for $43 Million". 26 March 2002. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Resfeber switches to Sabre Travel Network, citing customer service and technology". Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Sabre buys Kiehl Hendrickson Group". American City Business Journals. 4 November 2002.
- "Sabre Acquires EDS Axresource Product Line". Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Travelocity to Acquire World Choice Travel Assets". 22 October 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Sabre Airline Solutions Expands International Presence". 16 August 2004. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Travelocity Acquires Allstate Ticketing And Its Showtickets.com Website". 31 August 2004. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- Rosenwald, Michael S. (10 December 2004). "SynXis to Be Bought for $40 Million". The Washington Post.
- "Nexion adds 60-member host agency to network". 19 January 2005. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Acquisition Gives Sabre Access To Online Search Revenue". 6 April 2005. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Travelocity buys Lastminute.com for £577m". 12 May 2005. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "(BW) Sabre Holdings Acquires E-site Marketing to Build on Comprehensive Hospitality Offerings". 5 June 2007. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Sabre acquires Flight Explorer". Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Sabre acquires EB2". 19 December 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Calidris to become part of Sabre Airline Solutions". 31 March 2010. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- "Sabre Holdings buys Flightline Data Services". 8 July 2010. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- May, Kevin (29 September 2010). "Sabre buys flight planning technology provider f:wz". Phocuswire.
- "Sabre Holdings acquires SoftHotel" (Press release). Sable Corporation. 29 June 2011.
- "Sabre Airline Solutions Acquires Prism Group" (Press release). Sabre Corporation. 1 August 2012.
- "Sabre Acquires Hotel-Tech Provider Genares as Competition Heats Up". 12 September 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- May, Kevin (24 November 2015). "Sabre acquires Trust International for $154 million". Phocuswire.
- "Sabre grows Airline Solutions portfolio with acquisition of Airpas Aviation". Sabre. Retrieved 28 January 2018.