Travelzoo
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| Travelzoo Inc. | |
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| Type | Public (NASDAQ: TZOO) |
| Founded | May 1998 in Mountain View, CA |
| Headquarters | New York, NY, with other offices in Mountain View, CA, Chicago, IL, Miami, FL, Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, CA, Las Vegas, NV and Toronto, Ontario in North America; London, England, Manchester, England, Barcelona, Spain, Paris, France and Munich, Germany in Europe. Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Tokyo in Asia and Sydney, Australia. |
| Key people | Ralph Bartel Ph.D., founder, Chairman, CEO CJ Kettler, President, North American Wayne Lee, CFO Max Rayner, CIO Steven M. Ledwith, Chief Technology Officer Shirley Tafoya, Sr. Vice President of Sales Christopher Loughlin, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Europe Raymond Ng, Senior Vice President, Asia, Jason Yap, Senior Vice President, Japan, India and Australia |
| Industry | Internet Media |
| Products | Travel deals from airlines, hotels, cruise lines, vacation packagers, shows & events and rental car companies. |
| Revenue |  $78.9 million USD |
| Employees | 158 (last reported count) |
| Website | www.travelzoo.com |
Travelzoo (NASDAQ: TZOO) is a global Internet media company that publishes travel deals from over 900 companies and delivers them to subscribers via newsletters. Travelzoo carefully selects high-quality deals and publicizes them in their Top 20 newsletter, on their website (www.travelzoo.com) and in their e-mail alerts.
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[edit] History
In October 1998, Ralph Bartel, a former print and television journalist, launched Travelzoo.com with an initial investment of $10,000. One year later, Travelzoo published its first Top 20 list reaching 1 million US subscribers by September 2000. In August 2003 Travelzoo launched an email alert service called Newsflash. The company became publicly traded on the NASDAQ SmallCap Market in December 2003 under the ticker symbol “TZOO”. By August 2004 Travelzoo phased up to the NASDAQ National Market. In October 2007, Travelzoo reached 12 million subscribers.
As of May 2008, Travelzoo had 20 offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Travelzoo has a global network of producers that work with travel companies to create deals for airfare, hotels, cruises, vacation packages, car rentals and shows and events. Travelzoo has a Test Booking Center based in Chicago where “test-bookers” simulate the process of booking deals that are published on the website, in the Top 20 or in e-mail alerts. Travelzoo’s “test bookers” check for accurate prices, availability, long hold times when booking via phone and ease of booking.
In November 2007, Travelzoo appointed C.J. Kettler, formerly founder and CEO of the lifestyle media company LIME, as President of its North America operations.
[edit] Major products
Travelzoo.com: A Web site geared to the active traveler in search of their next vacation. Top 20 Newsletter: A weekly e-mail newsletter featuring the 20 best travel deals. Newsflash: A geographically targeted e-mail alert promoting time-sensitive travel deals. SuperSearch: A search tool that recommends relevant travel Web sites based on a user’s specific itinerary .
Travelzoo also has publications in Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Asia and Australia.
[edit] Stock price movements
When Travelzoo had its initial public offering (IPO) on August 28, 2002, it was priced at $6.50/share. By January 2005 its share price had climbed to $110.62/share. From the all time high, Travelzoo fell to around $20. On April 18 and 19, 2006, Travelzoo stock rallied nearly 70% to close at $33.75/share on April 19. Speculation and excessive short selling are cited for the extreme volatility in Travelzoo's stock price, similar to what happened to many companies during the Internet bubble of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
