Ueberroth Bets On Net

<H1>Ueberroth Bets On Net</H1><H3>By Cheryl Rosen</H3><I>Palo Alto, Calif.</I> - Former baseball commissioner and Doubletree Hotels co-chairman Peter Ueberroth last week headed up a team of investors who plunked a cool $4 million into Internet Travel Network, the firm that allows travel agencies and corporate travelers to access CRSs and make automated bookings over the Internet (<I>BTN</I>, Feb. 12).

The Ueberroth family said this is but one of several forays they plan in the travel field. Already, the Ueberroths-including Peter, his brother John and his son Joe-own Ambassadors International, a firm that puts together student tours. The Ueberroths bought the firm 18 months ago and took it public in August.

Since then, Ambassadors International acquired the Helin Organization, a corporate meetings and incentive company, and is on the lookout for further meetings-industry investments, said Joe Ueberroth.

But in the meantime, the company got sidetracked by the ITN investment, for which Ambassadors joined with Brentwood Associates, an investment capital company based in Los Angeles, and the General Electric Pension Fund. "We are in the travel business and looking for opportunities," Joe Ueberroth said. "As a company in the Internet arena, Internet Travel Network is a bit of a speculative investment, but with an enormous potential upside."

Ueberroth said that Ambassador invested in ITN on its own merits, and not because of synergies ITN might offer in automating Ambassador's own travel-booking process. And while General Electric is out to bid for an automated booking system for its mammoth travel account, "I would not assume in a company as big as GE that the pension fund's investment in ITN will help it win that contract," he said. "But I do think ITN has the best product.