Flight Centre and PEP: Time to have a Rupert Murdoch moment

The Flight Centre deal with PEP is definitely back in action. I raised the potential of a new deal a few weeks ago. As you may recall - PEP made an all or nothing bid for the whole company which (like the Qantas buy out) seemed like a dead certainty until a particular shareholder (in this case Lazard) held out. Now the deal is back with a structure that does not require shareholder approval but gives PEP a big say in the running and gives current big Flight Centre shareholders a big dividend.

My views on Flight Centre are clear. They need to have a Rupert Murdoch like wake up. This is where the CEO of a large corporation turns to the senior execs and says "we missed the early signs of the internet but I am going to focus everything I do from now on to catching up". In Murdoch's case they caught up by buying MySpace, Photobucket, Rotten Tomotoes, IGN and more. Graham Turner, PEP and gang need to accept that they are late to the internet as a channel, accept that the internet is more than a side bar activity and take immediate acquisition and business transformation steps to join the internet revolution or wake up one day and find this newly restructured business losing more and more market share to online upstarts (Webjet, Travel.com.au and Bestflights.com.au) and online powerhouses (Expedia, Travelocity and Travelport).