In August 2012, Google purchased the travel publishing brand Frommer's Travel from John Wiley and Sons for $22 million. At the time, the purchase made some sense given Google's trend of acquisitions: Google bought ITA, a popular travel data service, in 2010, and the restaurant rating guide Zagat in 2011. But it was unclear how exactly Frommer's would live on in Google's pantheon.

Last week, Google paradoxically sold the Frommer's title back to the 83-year-old eponymous founder, who said he intended to resume publishing travel information under his name. Price details were not disclosed.

Today, it appears that Google, despite selling the Frommer's name, has retained the brand's social data and is integrating it with what is now called Zagat Travel. “Google is keeping all of the followers that Frommer’s accrued on Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Google+, YouTube and Pinterest.” PaidContent writes. “These thousands—or more likely millions—of accounts are valuable because they represent a huge collection of serious travel enthusiasts.”

The move became known when Google changed the name of the Twitter handle @FrommersTravel to @ZagatTravel today, announcing in a tweet, “This account is now @ZagatTravel! Welcome. Stay tuned for info on where to go, where to stay and how to explore around the world.”

A Google spokesperson talking to PaidContent said of the purchase, “we’ve spent the last several months integrating the travel content we acquired from Wiley into Google+ Local and our other Google services. We can confirm that we have returned the Frommer’s brand to its founder and are licensing certain travel content to him.”