Headaches at Opodo but is a sale really in the offering

Was preparing a post to discuss the huge list of departures at Opodo with rumours of more redundancies on the way when I say the Travolution blog post. Kevin has all that you need to know about this part of the Opodo story here.

The next part of the story is whether or not Opodo is up for sale. Independent is reporting that Opodo have

"the first steps towards a sale that could value it at well over £100m"

The over a hundred million part I get. Even though Opodo is losing a fortune, it has a turnover of Euro140mm plus and is growing despite the big marketing spends of Expedia and Travelocity / Lastminute in Europe. Heck if eBookers was worth £200mm plus then Opodo is easily in the hundred million range. (OK - we all know that eBookers was never worth £200mm but it has to be part of the story somehow).

The tone of "we have said goodbye to all of the top management, now are ready to sell" I dont get. Not sure how you can sell as either an ongoing concern or as a strategic investment a company that has lost its CFO, Country Manager for largest market, Head of Product and Commercial, Head of Tours and is just breaking in a new CEO (no matter how talented/experienced Ignacio Martos may be). Amadeus is clearly rethinking its online strategy globally (as evidenced by its exit from Travel.com.au mid last year) but they are unlikely to obtain the best price for Opodo until after they have rebuilt the management team.