Question: are tui and thomas cook the same company

Answer: No, With the sale of Salzgitter AG and purchase of the navigation and logistics company Hapag-Lloyd AG in 1997, Preussag AG became a global enterprise in the service and leisure industry. At that time, Hapag-Lloyd held a 30% interest in the tourism conglomerate TUI (founded 1968), increased to 100% by 1999. In addition the company acquired 25% of Thomas Cook shares in 1997, which it doubled the following year. On 2 February 1999, the Carlson Leisure Group merged with Thomas Cook into a holding company owned by the German bank, Westdeutsche Landesbank, Carlson Inc and Preussag. However, in mid-2000 Preussag acquired Thomas Cook's rival Thomson Travel and was forced to sell its majority 50.1% stake in Thomas Cook by regulatory authorities. In 2002, Preussag renamed itself TUI AG.