Travel Acquisition Group Acquires YTB (Is this the February news?)

Apparently, this was the news that YTB was all excited about in February. Remember the USA Today announcement? I picked this up as a comment on my blog and also saw it on a reputable travel board so there is at least some credence. I have calls out to verify this. Very interesting development for sure:

AP
Travel Acquisition Group Acquires YTB
Tuesday April 1, 7:10 am ET
By Dan Caterinicchia, AP Travel Writer

Eden Prairie MN-The Travel Acquisition Group (TAG), a newly formed travel franchise in conjunction with J.P. Morgan helped with the financial backing on acquiring YTB. YTB's Scott Tomer said this was a needed boost for all of our RTA's and affiliating ourselves with a group that only sees growth in the coming years. YTB had some setbacks last year with several cruise lines as YTB was referred to an industry cardmill. Mike Batt (chairman of the board for TAG) said he welcomed the merger. Once we were able to split off from Carlson Companies, we sought travel organizations that would fit our mix with our existing franchise group. With YTB's current 131,000 agents, they will be able to interact with local TAG franchises who will be their hosts on travel transactions. Batt and Tomer both stated that a late 3rd quarter transition should be finalized. The amount of financing wasn't disclosed.

The Lighter Side Of MLM

Does anyone remember the ominous predictions of February. Tom Coleman advised everyone to watch USA Today for big news about YTB that will have everyone's head spinning? Well February came and went and March is almost gone as well and nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Nyet!

• There was ton's of speculation as to what it was. The traditional travel agents could not imagine anything that USA Today might pick up except for a paid ad.
• One RTA emailed me and told me to look for the full page apology from Royal Caribbean to Scott Tomer; which was one of his demands before they would sell Royal Caribbean again.
• Another told me that USA Today had done an in depth interview with Coach and the news that YTB had sold $1 Billion Dollars in 2007 was going to be front page travel news.
• Still there were several others that approached me with the news that YTB was just finalizing the purchase of Travelocity.

So what was this big news? None of the above! But, if I had to guess which one was believed by most YTBers, I am going with the Travelocity one. Two YTBers who I have some respect for whispered that to me and it was also mentioned by several others who I respect less. I laughed, but they felt their info was credible. Well, I think this was a case of "Whisper Down The Lane". Remember in kindergarten when you whispered a sentence in someone's ear and then laughed when you saw how it came out at the other end?

Well here's how I think it went...HQ let a few Directors know that they were looking to buy a 2 man agency in Ontario to get the regulators off their back for the Canadian entry. The Directors passed it along to their downlines as YTB was looking into an acquisition and it has to pass regulatory approval. Then the RTAs and Reps talked amongst themselves and passed along that YTB was acquiring a huge competitor and it is almost through regulatory approval. And of course since everyone thinks the biggest competitor is Travelocity, it morphed into YTB was buying Travelocity and the news will be broken on the pages of USA Today.

The corollary to that was also another dose of bad information when Tom Coleman informed everyone that on the day of this announcement, many would make millions off the stock of YTB! Hey, I did not check lately, where is it at? Still firmly entrenched under a buck?