Travelzoo CEO Sells Shares

Ralph Bartel, the chairman, CEO and founder of Travelzoo(TZOO Quote), has finally cashed in on last year's surge in his company's shares.

A regulatory filing late Monday reveals that Bartel sold 685,000 shares in two separate transactions on March 11 and March 14. In one transaction, he sold 167,879 shares at $56.31; in the other, he sold 517,121 shares at $48.08.

The sales generated about $34 million in proceeds for Bartel.

The announcement may explain some of the heavy selling pressure in Travelzoo shares the past few days. The stock has lost 20% of its value since March 10, when it closed around $60.

The sales were not a surprise. Bartel had indicated months ago in a regulatory filing that he intended to sell some of the 13.2 million shares he owned. Before the sale, Bartel owned about 84% of Travelzoo's outstanding stock.

In the filing, the company said "Bartel has advised us that the proposed sale of his shares under this prospectus is motivated by his desire to diversify his investments and reduce his investment risk, and that the reasons for the sale are related only to the management of personal investments.''

Shares of Travelzoo, a so-called low-float stock with just a few million shares available for trading, have been extremely volatile the past year. Last March, the stock was trading below $10 a share, but it surged by year's end to $110. At one time, Bartel was worth $1 billion on paper because of the appreciation in Travelzoo stock.

For much of this year, shares of Travelzoo have been falling, as more shares are becoming available to the public. The first big plunge occurred when a group of hedge funds sold some 750,000 shares they had purchased in a private placement.

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