What a difference a day makes. Or not. Clearly the announcement yesterday from lastminute.com confirming its country manager structure was leading somewhere.
Now, 24 hours later, CEO Ian McCaig has announced his departure. There is no information as yet as to his plans for the future.
Travelocity, parent company of lastminute.com, confirmed the news in an email this afternoon, ending what is probably one of the longest running rumours in the European travel industry.
McCaig will not be replaced directly, but current chief operating officer Ed Kamm will become president.
Kamm is a Sabre and Travelocity veteran of 16 years, joining Lastminute.com as chief financial officer in 2005 and COO in 2007.
Hugh Jones, president and CEO of Travelocity, says:
“I want to thank Ian for his leadership over the past years and for the continuing progress we have seen at lastminute.com. I am delighted that we have an excellent successor in Ed Kamm whom I am very confident will take the business forward successfully in the years to come.”
McCaig became part of what was then a growing Lastminute.com empire when it acquired the Online Travel Corporation in 2003. He became chief operating officer and took over from co-founder Brent Hoberman as CEO in 2006.
He also oversaw the UK end of the acquisition of Lastminute.com by Travelocity in 2005.
Rumours about McCaig's position within Lastminute.com first came about in January 2009 when he joined digital marketing agency Bigmouthmedia as a non-executive director.
Many believe he was a favourite of - and a rising star within the wider Travelocity empire - under its former-CEO Michelle Peluso. Peluso announced her departure from Travelocity in January 2009 and was replaced by Jones.
Until today, McCaig was one of the few remaining tops execs from the pre-acquisition period still in the business, with Hoberman, co-founder Martha Lane Fox, vice president of distribution Vic Darvey and ex-UK managing director John Bevan all leaving in recent years.