Travelport

Travelport is a broad-based business services company and a leading provider of critical transaction processing solutions to companies operating in the global travel industry. The company is composed of the global distribution system (GDS) business, that includes the Apollo, Worldspan and Galileo brands, and Airline IT Solutions, which hosts mission critical applications and provides business and data analysis solutions for major airlines. With reported 2010 revenues of $2.3 billion, Travelport has a presence in 160 countries and approximately 3,500 employees. Travelport also owns approximately 48% of Orbitz Worldwide (), a leading global online travel company. 
Travelport is a private company owned by The Blackstone Group, One Equity Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures and Travelport management and it is number 195 in the Forbes list of private companies.
== History ==
Travelport traces its origins back to 1971, but its most immediate predecessor, Travel Distribution Services (TDS), was founded in 2001 through the acquisition of Galileo International by TDS's parent, Cendant Corporation. Travelport was formed in August 2006, when Cendant sold Orbitz and Galileo to The Blackstone Group in a deal valued at $4.3 billion. The sale of Travelport followed the spin-offs of Cendant's real estate and hospitality businesses, Realogy Corporation and Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, respectively, on July 31, 2006. Travelport is now owned by The Blackstone Group, One Equity Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures.Sachdev, Ameet. " Orbitz travels to 4th owner: Blackstone Group to buy from Cendant.", Chicago Tribune, July 1, 2006. Accessed September 15, 2007.Fineman, Josh. "Cendant to sell Orbitz to Blackstone for $4.3 Bln", Bloomberg.com, June 30, 2006. Accessed September 15, 2007. 
In April 2006, shortly before Travelport was sold, Cendant hired Jeff Clarke as president and CEO of Travel Distribution Services to lead the sale of the division. He is currently Executive Chairman and a member of the board of directors of Travelport and chairman of the board of Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. Gordon Wilson was appointed President and CEO of the company and a menber of the board of directors of Travelport in June 2011.
Shortly after the Blackstone-led buyout, in December 2006, Travelport struck a deal to buy one of its rivals, Worldspan, for $1.4 billion.David Carey and John E. Morris, King of Capital: The Remarkable Rise, Fall and Rise Again of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone (Crown 2010), pp. 314-18. 
In March 2007, cash flow had risen substantially, in part because of efficiencies initiated by Clarke, and Travelport's parent company, Travelport Holdings Limited, paid a $1.1 billion dividend to its shareholders funded by a payment-in-kind (PIK) recapitalization of the company. In May 2007 the company filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to sell a portion of Orbitz Worldwide in an initial public offering (IPO). The IPO was priced on July 20, 2007, opening at $15.00 per share, and closed on July 25, 2007. A month later, Travelport completed the Worldspan deal, integrating Worldspan with Galileo.
By combining operations with Worldspan and streamlining overlapping functions that Travelport had inherited from a string of more than 20 earlier mergers under Cendant, Travelport cut its overhead by $390 million in three years and doubled its cash flow.Ibid., p. 317.
On September 19, 2007, Travelport became the first travel company to receive a 100 percent rating on the sixth annual Corporate Equality Index awarded by the American Human Rights Campaign Foundation.Ferris, Bev. "Travelport gets human rights accolade", travelmole.com, September 19, 2007. Accessed September 27, 2007. Worldspan achieved the 100 percent rating on HRC's Corporate Equality Index in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
On May 5, 2011, Travelport completed the $720m sale of its GTA business to Kuoni, in line with its strategic plan to focus on maximizing the potential of its core business.
== Brands of Travelport ==
* Travelport GDS (includes Apollo, Galileo and Worldspan)
* Travelport Airline IT Services
* THOR
* needahotel.com
* Sprice.com
* orbitz.com
* ebookers
* Travelport Opinionstnooz"Third of Opinions members do not use Travelport", tnooz.com, February 2011
==References==
==External links==
*Travelport website
*Galileo
*Travelport ViewTrip, public site for viewing reservations made through Travelport/Galileo
*Galileo in India
*Worldspan in India
*Travelport Opinions, Travel Agent Social Network
Category:Travel technology
Category:Private equity portfolio companies
Category:Blackstone Group companies
Category:Online travel agencies