After de-nationalisation in 1972, it was acquired by a consortium of Trust House Forte, Midland Bank and the Automobile Association, then subsequently bought by Westdeutsche Landesbank in 1992.

Thomas saw his venture as both religious and social service; his son provided the commercial expertise that allowed the company to expand.

It included a steamship across the Atlantic, a stage coach across America, a paddle steamer to Japan, and an overland journey across China and India.

[8] In 1874, Thomas Cook introduced his "circular notes", a product that was originally devised by a London banker in the 1770s and was later superseded by American Express's "traveller's cheques".

While expensive enough that the trip would likely be the only one in the couple's lifetime, the company would arrange for a variety of activities new to the middle-class, including museum visits, the opera, and mountain climbing.

[13] With the boom in travel in the Edwardian era, John Mason Cook's sons, Frank Henry, Thomas Albert and Ernest Edward, were even more successful than their father and grandfather had been at running the business.

[3] After the Fall of France, the Paris headquarters of the Wagons-Lits company was seized by the Germans, and the British assets taken over by the Custodian of Enemy Property.

[3] In the late 1950s, the company began showing information films at town halls throughout Britain to promote "foreign holidays", particularly France, Italy, Switzerland and Spain.

The company sold "inclusive tours" using scheduled airlines but refused to sell cheap package holidays which compromised on quality and service.

The company was denationalised in 1972, when it was acquired from the British Government by a consortium of Trust House Forte, Midland Bank and the Automobile Association.

[16] During the 1980s, Thomas Cook had its most visible business presence in the United States, including robust sales of traveller's cheques to regional American banks.

Robert Maxwell bought substantial holdings in the company in 1988 and still held that interest when Crimson/Heritage purchased the U.S. division of Thomas Cook for US$1.3 billion in 1989.

Within three years the company had combined Sunworld, Sunset, Inspirations, Flying Colours and Caledonian Airways into the JMC (for "John Mason Cook") brand.

[21] In March 2001 the financial services division was sold to Travelex, who retained the right to use the Thomas Cook brand on traveller's cheques for five years.

[24] The company's archive was transferred to the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland,[25] having been acquired in December 2019 by a competitive bidding process.