Tom Klein - heir apparent? Sabre Holdings announced today that Klein, who had been executive vice president of Sabre's GDS and airlines solutions businesses, was appointed president of the company.
In the history of Sabre Holdings, it has never had a presidential slot, the company says, and created the position for Klein's role.
With Sabre - and Amadeus, too - reportedly mulling initial public offerings, Sabre competitor Travelport, raised eyebrows in November when it likewise created a new position, deputy CEO, and tapped Gordon Wilson to fill the slot.
Earlier this week, Travelport revealed plans for its much-anticipated IPO and Tnooz reports that Wilson "is the annointed successor to US-based Jeff Clarke."
Klein's appointment to the Sabre presidency might be seen as a similar let's-get-all-our-ducks-in-a-row maneuver if Sabre indeed is preparing for an IPO, with the assumption that chairman and CEO Sam Gilliland, like Clarke at Travelport, would make his getaway after a transition period.
For the record, Sabre says the appointment of Klein, 47, means he will take on broader responsibilities across the entire Sabre portfolio -- officially, he already had his hands in almost everything but Travelocity -- and Gilliland states: "The creation of this new role underscores the confidence we have in his leadership to drive future growth for our business.”
Meanwhile, as reported, the statement by Travelport deputy CEO Wilson that he "personally hopes that we [Travelport, Amadeus and Sabre] all are on the public markets in the future" has echoes of Southwest chairman and CEO Gary Kelly calling on competitors to increase bag fees.
Southwest would benefit if Delta ups its bag fees again, and a public Travelport might see an advantage if Sabre and Amadeus, too, have to shed their veils and battle it out openly in the public markets.
Sabre, incidentally, says an IPO is not on the agenda.
"This [appointment] is not tied to any kind of move to take the company public. We are not considering or actively pursuing going public at this time," an official says.
Meanwhile, PhoCusWright's financial expert Jake Fuller has run some numbers on Travelport's projected IPO and published an analysis, which may give some pause to potential investors.
Fuller says:
"Travelport IPO plans appear to put a total value on the business of $5.4B to $6.1B versus the $5.7B spent to buy it and Worldspan.
"With cash flow down over the last three years, the implied multiple is much higher than what Blackstone initially paid for Travelport and Worldspan. That makes sense as we should see a cyclical rebound in cash flow, but may be tough to achieve given the uncertainties raised by the impending 2011 airline contract renewals."
Travelport's IPO likely will be history by the time the 2011 airline-contract negotiations get under way in earnest, but the would-be public company must convince investors that the outcome will not disrupt the business even though several major airlines already have signalled aggressive intentions.