CWT (company)

Last updated
CWT
FormerlyCarlson Wagonlit Travel
Company type Privately held company
Industry Travel management company
Founded1994;31 years ago (1994)
Headquarters Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Area served
145 countries
Key people
Patrick Andersen, President & CEO
Services Corporate travel management, Event management
RevenueUS$1.5 billion
Number of employees
18,000
Website www.mycwt.com
Footnotes /references
[1]

CWT (formerly Carlson Wagonlit Travel) is a travel management company that manages business travel, meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions, and handles event management.

Contents

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the company reported US$23 billion in total transaction volume in 2018. [1] It is ranked 5th on the list of top earning travel companies published by Travel Weekly. [2]

History

CWT has existed in its present form since 1994, the result of a merger of two large travel agencies: the Carlson Travel Network (originally called the Ask Mr. Foster Travel Agency) and the travel agency division of Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, founded by Georges Nagelmackers in 1872 in Belgium and acquired by Accor in 1991. [3]

On April 27, 2006, Accor announced the sale of its 50% interest in CWT: 5% to Carlson and 45% to One Equity Partners, an affiliate of JP Morgan Chase. [4]

On June 22, 2014, Carlson, which owned a 55% stake in CWT, agreed to acquire the 45% interest in CWT held by JPMorgan Chase. [5] [6] [7]

In July 2017, the company launched RoomIt by CWT, dedicated to hotel distribution. [8] [9]

On February 18, 2019, the company announced that it was rebranding as CWT. [10]

On July 31, 2020, the Register reported that CWT was the victim of a ransomware incident a week earlier, in which they paid US$4.5 million. [11]

In 2022, CWT had a capital injection which resulted in Carlson becoming a minority shareholder. [12]

On March 25, 2024, rival American Express Global Business Travel announced its intention to buy CWT for $570 million. [13] In January 2025, the US Department of Justice sued to block the acquisition. [14]

References

  1. 1 2 "CWT at a glance".
  2. ↑ "Power List 2019". Travel Weekly.
  3. ↑ Biesiada, Jamie (February 21, 2019). "CWT scrubs Carlson and Wagonlit from name". Travel Weekly.
  4. ↑ "Accor Divests Stake in Carlson Wagonlit Travel" (Press release). Hospitality Net. 27 April 2006.
  5. ↑ "Carlson Announces It Will Take Full Ownership of Carlson Wagonlit Travel" (Press release). Business Wire. June 22, 2014.
  6. ↑ Phelps, David (March 5, 2015). "Carlson board sharpens its focus". Minneapolis Star Tribune .
  7. ↑ King, Danny (June 23, 2014). "Carlson to take full ownership of Carlson Wagonlit Travel". Travel Weekly.
  8. ↑ "Carlson Wagonlit Travel launches new division dedicated to hotels – RoomIt by CWT". CWT (Press release). July 17, 2017. Archived from the original on October 6, 2019. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  9. ↑ Chaturvedi, Anumeha (July 17, 2017). "Carlson Wagonlit Travel launches new division RoomIt dedicated to hotels". The Times of India .
  10. ↑ "CWT is the New Name in Digital Business Travel, Hotel Distribution, and Meetings & Events". CWT (Press release). February 18, 2019. Archived from the original on February 18, 2019. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  11. ↑ "First rule of Ransomware Club is do not pay the ransom, but it looks like Carlson Wagonlit Travel didn't get the memo". The Register (Press release). July 31, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Carlson Family Gives up Control of Namesake Agency CWT in Refinancing Deal". 15 September 2021.
  13. ↑ "Amex GBT To Acquire CWT" (Press release). March 25, 2024. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  14. ↑ Hamilton, Katherine (January 10, 2025). "DOJ Sues to Block Global Business Travel Group's $570 Million Deal for CWT Holdings". The Wall Street Journal.
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