Skift Take
Think of travel tech giant Sabre as being like an orchestra. CEO Sean Menke has been like a conductor replacing lead players and changing the tune. So far, investors like what they hear.
What a difference a year makes. On August 1, 2017 Sabre was laying off 10 percent of its workforce and reported a net loss of $6 million for the second quarter. A year after those changes, the company’s turnaround appears to be bearing fruit.
On Tuesday, the Southlake, Texas-company reported its second-quarter earnings, which echoed first-quarter earnings in that the company appears to be heading in the right direction after a period of sluggish growth.
Revenue rose 9 percent to $984 million. Sabre earned net income of $92 million compared with a quarterly loss of $6 million a year earlier.
On July 23, Doug Barnett became the company's chief financial officer and executive vice president, as the past chief financial officer, Rick Simonson, stepped aside. The move represented the latest C-suite change since Sean Menke took the CEO job 18 months ago. Earlier in the month, Sabre made other technology leadership hires and blended its distribution network and airline units under new regime.
Expedia and Booking.com Play Roles
Distribution is Sabre's largest segment. The unit saw revenue rise 13.2 percent to $720 million, year-over-year. Menke said the growth was broad-based across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
One of Sabre's largest customers in North America is Expedia, which saw air booking volumes rise 6
