Terra and Amadeus agreed to the joint venture over nine months ago but European fears of a monopoly by the two Spanish heavyweights have delayed its launch until now. The company plans to expand to Latin America, opening Mexican, Brazilian and Argentine affiliates before year's end and hoping to become the largest online travel service in the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking world. Rumbo should be in the black by 2003 and is not expected to go for IPO in the foreseeable future. Amadeus is a leading global infotech company founded in 1987 and specializing in distribution, marketing and online commerce tools for the travel industry. Founded in 1998, Terra Networks already has more than 33 million monthly visits and 1.1 million ISP clients in Spain, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala and the United States.
Users can choose between Spanish, Portuguese and English.
The company is projected to have over 35,000 member companies and to manage over 5,000 web sites by the end of this year. Mexican Sources joins Global Sources' existing network of portals in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and South Africa. Based in Mexico City, the company has additional offices in Argentina and Chile.