Skift Take
The deal would involve the acquisition of one of the industry’s older corporate travel companies.
Amex GBT is set to acquire CWT for approximately $570 million, bringing together two major corporate travel companies in the industry.
According to Travel Weekly, Amex GBT and CWT were ranked as No. 3 and No. 5, respectively, among the world’s largest travel agencies in 2022 based on sales.
The deal is expected to be financed through a combination of stock and cash and is anticipated to be finalized in the second half of 2024, as per the companies’ announcement.
CEO Paul Abbott of Amex GBT mentioned during a conference call on Monday, “Global business travel spend represents a large under-penetrated opportunity of $1.4 trillion in 2024.” He added, “So we see significant opportunity to continue to drive share gains and growth both organically and organically.”
CWT strengthens various aspects of the business, according to Abbott. The company serves around 4,000 clients in sectors such as energy, resources, marine, media, entertainment, sports, life sciences, defense, and government.
The companies stated that the combined entity aims to create efficiencies leading to savings of about $155 million within three years, with approximately 35% of that amount expected to be achieved in 2025.
More insights from Monday’s conference call: Amex GBT Execs Explain Biz Travel Mega-Merger With CWT: Size, Costs and AI
Amex GBT was established as a joint venture with American Express in 2014. The company generated $2.3 billion in revenue in 2023, marking an increase of $439 million from the previous year. It managed to reduce its losses to $136 million in the same period.
Amex GBT had a workforce of 19,000 employees in 2022.
Founded in 1994, CWT is known as one of the leading corporate travel and meetings companies, similar to Amex GBT. CWT is expected to generate approximately $850 million in revenue this year, with an adjusted EBITDA of between $70 million and $80 million.
CWT caters to 4,000 clients, who would potentially gain access to Amex GBT’s products and services upon successful completion of the deal. In 2022, CWT had 12,000 employees.
