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Sabre buys site, cuts jobs
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August 28, 2000: 12:39 p.m. ET
Reservation system paying $757 million in cash for GetThere, cuts 1,200 jobs
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Sabre Holdings Corp., the world's largest travel-reservation company, said Monday that it will cut 1,200 jobs to save money even as it agrees to pay $757 million to buy an Internet travel business.
Sabre, which owns 62 percent of the Travelocity.com Web site, will cut more than 11 percent of its work force through a combination of layoffs and attrition over the next several months, officials said.
The cash purchase of GetThere (GTHR: Research, Estimates), a company focused on business-to business travel services, is valued at $17.75 per share, or $757 million, a premium of 47 percent over its Friday closing price of $12.12 a share, which was up $1.44 a share, or 13.3 percent, on the day.
Sabre also said cutting the 1,200 of its 10,500 positions will eliminate duplicate functions and save an estimated $100 million annually starting in 2001. The money saved by cutting jobs will be reinvested in the company, officials said. The company will take a $20 million charge for the move.
 Sabre provides the computer systems used by most U.S. travel agents to make reservations and also provides information technology services to airlines. The company said the GetThere deal gives it an improved platform for its business-to-business corporate travel channel and the business-to-consumer e-commerce channel.
After the deal closes, Sabre's Business Travel Solutions unit will assume the GetThere name and be headed by Gadi Maier, current GetThere chairman, president and CEO.
Sabre is a former subsidiary of AMR Corp., owner of American Airlines, the No. 2 U.S. airline. A spinoff of Sabre was completed in March, and shares have tumbled more than 41 percent since then.
Shares of Sabre (TSG: Research, Estimates) were off 88 cents to $28.88 in trading Monday. GetThere (GTHR: Research, Estimates) gained $5.06 to $17.19. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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