Sabre Group Holdings

Sabre Holdings Corp. and business-to-business software maker Ariba Inc. said they would create a Web-based exchange for the travel and transportation businesses, in the latest move to organize online procurement within an industry. Sabre, in which AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines, owns a majority, estimates the network will save companies 10% to 15% for the products and services they buy. The airline industry alone spends $50 billion annually on goods and services.

AMR Corp. said it plans to spin off its 83% interest in Sabre Holdings Corp., a deal worth about $6.2 billion, in an attempt to attract more business for the computer reservation company and enhance the value of both firms. AMR, parent of American Airlines, said Tuesday it will distribute its 107 million shares of Sabre stock to shareholders at the rate of 0.7 of a Sabre share for each AMR share.

Sabre Holdings Corp., the world's No. 1 travel reservation company, said Monday that it will spin off its Travelocity.com Web site and combine it with Preview Travel Inc., an exclusive partner of America Online Inc., to create one of the nation's largest Internet commerce sites. Sabre will contribute Travelocity's assets plus $50 million in cash to a new publicly traded company called Travelocity.com. The plan comes less than two weeks after Microsoft Corp.

Sabre Holdings Corp., the world's largest travel-reservation company, said it fired 329 employees, or about 3% of its work force, to reduce costs because of lower sales in its computer-services business. Sabre, which employs about 11,000 people worldwide, expects to take a third-quarter charge of up to $7 million for the firings, the company said. Most of the jobs were cut at its headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, and at offices in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Washington.

The nation's largest airline reservation system may soon sell information about some passengers' destinations, hotel accommodations and other travel arrangements under a marketing proposal that could raise new questions about privacy. Sabre Group executives said they plan to use data warehouses--sophisticated computer technology that vastly increases the speed of information processing--in a variety of promotions.

US Airways Group Inc. tentatively agreed to turn over most of its internal computer systems to Sabre Group Holdings Inc. in what the companies called a "multibillion-dollar" agreement that would span at least a decade. US Airways said a final agreement could be reached in 90 days. Within two years, Sabre would manage all of US Airways' computerized airport check-in, aircraft and crew scheduling and electronic ticketing systems. Sabre, a unit of Fort Worth-based AMR Corp.