Skift Take
Private company Sabre must be taking a financial beating behind the scenes as CEO Gilliland's exit was carried out in a very clumsy manner. Is there trouble in IPO land with owners TPG and Silver Lake getting very impatient about their own exits?
Poised to do an IPO, perhaps in 2014, Sabre Holdings, which owns Travelocity and one of the major global distribution systems, shuffled its top ranks, and brought in a new CEO.
Sam Gilliland, who's been the CEO for a decade and took the company private in 2007, is out as CEO, and Tom Klein, who's been Sabre president since 2010, replaces him as CEO effective immediately. Gilliland will keep his board chairman slot.
Gilliland had been slated to lead a "CEO Chat" yesterday morning, the first of a series, but it was abruptly cancelled about 30 minutes or so before it was to start. The word around Sabre is that this was coincidental.
The changing of the guard at Sabre certainly was abrupt, with no transition period. Undoubtedly it had to do with the company's performance, although only bondholders are privy to the financials of Sabre, one of the largest travel tech firms in the world.
The move could also relate to Sabre's long desire to execute an IPO.
