Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Car rental |
Founded | 1958Los Angeles | in
Founders | Morris Mirkin Jules Lederer |
Headquarters | , United States |
Number of locations | 3,925 (2019) |
Revenue | US$3.2 billion (2019) |
Parent | Avis Budget Group |
Website | www |
Footnotes /references [1] |
Budget Rent a Car System, Inc. is an American car rental company that was founded in 1958 in Los Angeles, California by Morris Mirkin. [2] Budget is a subsidiary of the Avis Budget Group, with its operations headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. [3]
With its original fleet of 10 cars, the company lived up to the 'Budget' name by undercutting the daily and per mile rental rates of the established airport based car rental companies. Mirkin was joined in 1959 by Julius Lederer and together, they built the company internationally. In 1960, the headquarters moved to Chicago, Illinois and the rental fleet expanded with franchised and wholly owned rental outlets.
The company was eventually acquired by Transamerica Corporation, and then sold in 1986 in a leveraged buyout by Gibbons, Green and van Amerongen Ltd., along with management (led by CEO Clifton E. Haley) and selected investors. The company made its first public stock offering in 1987. [4]
Team Rental Group purchased the public company in 1997 and took the name Budget Group. In 2002, Budget filed for bankruptcy and was later sold to the Cendant Corporation, which also owned Avis. [5] In September 2006, Cendant Corporation separated into four independent companies. The real estate division became Realogy, Inc., its hospitality services division became Wyndham Worldwide, and the travel distribution services division became Travelport, Inc., an affiliate of The Blackstone Group. In 2006, following the Travelport sale, Cendant, now composed solely of its vehicle rental services businesses, renamed itself Avis Budget Group. [2]
Worldwide, as of 2019, 2,275 locations are company owned, and 1,650 are licensees; 1,925 offices are located in the Americas, and 2,000 are located internationally. [1]
Beginning in April 2011, television actress Wendie Malick of Hot in Cleveland became the spokesperson in a series of television and online ads that offer special, limited-time, discount offers. [6]
Orbitz.com is a travel fare aggregator website and travel metasearch engine. The website is owned by Orbitz Worldwide, Inc., a subsidiary of Expedia Group. It is headquartered in the Citigroup Center, Chicago, Illinois.
Hertz Global Holdings, Inc., known as Hertz, is an American car rental company based in Estero, Florida. The company operates its namesake Hertz brand, along with the brands Dollar Rent A Car, Firefly Car Rental and Thrifty Car Rental.
Cendant Corporation was an American provider of business and consumer services, primarily within the real estate and travel industries. In 2005 and 2006, it broke up and spun off or sold its constituent businesses. Although it was based in New York City, the majority of its headquarters employees were in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey.
Worldspan is a provider of travel technology and content and a part of the Travelport GDS business. It offers worldwide electronic distribution of travel information, Internet products and connectivity, and e-commerce capabilities for travel agencies, travel service providers and corporations. Its primary system is commonly known as a Global Distribution System (GDS), which is used by travel agents and travel related websites to book airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, tour packages and associated products. Worldspan also hosts IT services and product solutions for major airlines.
CUC (Comp-U-Card) International Inc. was a membership-based consumer services conglomerate with travel, shopping, auto, dining, home improvement and financial services offered to more than 60 million customers worldwide based in Stamford, Connecticut, US, and founded in 1973 by Kirk Shelton and Walter Forbes. In 1998, it became involved in a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into what, at the time, was the biggest accounting scandal in corporate history.
Avis Car Rental, LLC is an American car rental company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. Along with Budget Rent a Car, Budget Truck Rental and Zipcar, Avis is a unit of Avis Budget Group.
A car rental, hire car or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time to the public, generally ranging from a few hours to a few weeks. It is often organized with numerous local branches, and primarily located near airports or busy city areas and often complemented by a website allowing online reservations.
Payless Car Rental, Inc. is a car rental company owned by Avis Budget Group and headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida. While mainly a franchise system, the company owns and operates several corporate locations. Payless Car Rental, Payless Car Sales, Payless Parking and REZlink International are sister companies under the umbrella of Avalon Global Group.
Travel + Leisure Co. is an American timeshare company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It develops, sells, and manages timeshare properties under several vacation ownership clubs, including Club Wyndham and WorldMark by Wyndham, and provides timeshare exchange services, primarily through RCI.
Thrifty Car Rental is an American car rental agency, headquartered in Estero, Florida, with offices in many countries around the world. Thrifty is owned by The Hertz Corporation, along with other agencies including Hertz Rent A Car and Dollar Rent A Car. Thrifty typically caters to budget-conscious leisure travelers.
Avis Budget Group, Inc. is an American car rental agency holding company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. It is the parent company of several brands including Avis Car Rental, Budget Rent a Car, Budget Truck Rental, Payless Car Rental and Zipcar.
CheapTickets is an online travel services company focusing on the leisure market, offering airline tickets, hotel and vacation rentals, rental cars, customized vacation packages, and cruises. CheapTickets was a wholly owned subsidiary of Orbitz Worldwide, Inc., and with Expedia Inc.'s purchase of Orbitz, it is now a subsidiary of Expedia Group.
Budget Truck Rental, LLC is the second largest truck rental company in the continental United States, with around 2,800 locations and 32,000 trucks across the country. Budget Truck Rental is owned and operated by Avis Budget Group, which was spun off from Cendant.
Advantage Rent a Car is a privately held American car rental company headquartered in Orlando, Florida.
Travelport Worldwide Ltd provides distribution, technology, and payment solutions for the travel and tourism industry. It is the smallest, by revenue, of the top three global distribution systems (GDS) after Amadeus IT Group and Sabre Corporation.
One Equity Partners is a private equity firm with over $10 billion in assets under management which primarily deals with the industrial, healthcare and technology sectors in North America and Europe. One Equity Partners was the merchant banking arm of JPMorgan Chase, focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in middle-market companies. Formed by Bank One in 2001, the group has offices in New York City, Chicago, Sao Paulo, Vienna, Hong Kong and Frankfurt.
Avis Europe plc is a United Kingdom-based company which holds the licence to operate the two main vehicle rental brands of Avis Budget Group in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as Asia in the case of Avis. In 2011 it was acquired by Avis Budget Group.
Henry R. Silverman is an American entrepreneur and private equity investor. Silverman is best known for his role in building Cendant Corporation into a multibillion-dollar business services company that provided car rentals, travel reservation services as well as real estate brokerage services and was also the largest franchisor of hotels globally.
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group is the former holding company of Thrifty Car Rental and Dollar Rent A Car. Dollar Thrifty Automotive began to operate as an independent car rental subsidiary of the Chrysler Corporation on November 4, 1997 while continuing to support its two brands, Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental. It was acquired by The Hertz Corporation for US$2.3 billion on November 19, 2012.
Auto Europe is a large car rental wholesale company, working with approximately 24,000 car rental locations in 180 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, as well as North and South America. Auto Europe has been accredited with the Better Business Bureau since 2 April 1993, with an A+ rating. Auto Europe has been owned by Court Square Capital Partners since 2006.