Thomas Cook By Silverkasy 1841 Thomas Cook organizes his first trip, a rail journey from Leicester to Loughborough, England. 1855 Cook leads his first tour outside of England, taking a group of travelers to Switzerland. 1865 Cook opens his first travel agency in London. 1874 Cook introduces the circular note, an early form of the traveler's cheque. 1892 Cook dies, and his son, John Mason Cook, takes over the business. 1928 The company is sold to a group of private investors. 1948 Thomas Cook is nationalized by the British government. 1972 The company is privatized again. 1992 Thomas Cook is acquired by a German bank, Westdeutsche Landesbank. 2007 Thomas Cook merges with MyTravel Group to form Thomas Cook Group plc. 2019 Thomas Cook collapses into bankruptcy, leaving hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded around the world. 2020 A new company, Thomas Cook Travel Money, is launched by Fosun Tourism Group, which had acquired the Thomas Cook brand in 2019.