Avis Budget Group

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,[3] Budget Rent a Car,[4] Budget Truck Rental, Payless Car Rental, and Zipcar.[5] The company also operates several smaller, regional brands including ACL Hire, Apex Car Rentals,[6] AmicoBlu, France Cars, Maggiore Group,[7] MoriniRent, TurisCar and TurisPrime.[5]

It is one of the three big rental car holding companies in the United States.[8] In 2021, it held a 26% market share, placing it behind both the Hertz Global Holdings and Enterprise Holdings.[9]

History

Following the decision to dissolve the Cendant company name and split into four separate companies, the vehicle rental division of Cendant became Avis Budget Group in 2006.[10]

In 2011, Avis Budget Group acquired Avis Europe, an independently owned company licensee, globally reuniting the Avis and Budget brands.[11]

On September 5, 2012, Avis Budget Group acquired Apex Car Rentals of New Zealand.[12]

On March 14, 2013, Avis Budget Group purchased carsharing company Zipcar for about US$500 million in cash.[13][14]

On April 9, 2015, Avis Budget Group announced it had completed the acquisition of Maggiore Group, Italy's fourth-largest vehicle rental company.[15]

During 2018 Avis along with 90 additional Fortune 500 companies "paid an effective federal tax rate of 0% or less" as a result of Donald Trump´s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.[8]

The company's stock value rose dramatically due to increased demand for car rentals during the COVID-19 pandemic[16] and it became a meme stock in November 2021, with shares at one point doubling in a single day.[17] Despite rising revenues, the value of the stock began to decline in 2024 due to rising federal interest rates and declining values for used cars.[18]

References

  1. 2024 Annual Report (Form 10-K) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, February 14, 2025^
  2. Avis Budget Group Forbes^
  3. Christian Stoyanov. Avis Budget Group: A Time For Transformation Seeking Alpha, retrieved 30 April 2019^
  4. Cendant cutting hotels, strikes deal for Budget Chicago Tribune, retrieved 30 April 2019^
  5. Brands Avis Budget Group, retrieved 7 September 2020^
  6. Avis Budget Group Enters Agreement to Acquire Apex Car Rentals of New Zealand Auto Rental News, retrieved 30 April 2019^
  7. Chelsey Dulaney. Avis Budget to Buy Italy's Maggiore Group for $170 Million Wall Street Journal, retrieved 30 April 2019^
  8. Jesse Pound. These 91 companies paid no federal taxes in 2018 CNBC, December 16, 2019, retrieved 2020-02-11^
  9. How Consolidation in the Car Rental Industry Is Likely to Overhaul Ground Transportation GEP, retrieved 2021-06-23^
  10. Cendant to become Avis. Budget Pacific Business News, August 29, 2006, retrieved 18 August 2012^
  11. SEC Filings: 10-K 2019 Avis Budget Group, 20 February 2020, retrieved 7 September 2020^
  12. Avis Budget Group to Acquire Apex Car Rentals - Quick Facts retrieved 2015-05-09^
  13. Avis Budget to buy Zipcar for $500 mln Reuters, 2 January 2013, retrieved 2 January 2013^
  14. Rebecca Greenfield. Uh Oh, ZipCar's CEO Stepped Down Right After Its Merger with Avis The Atlantic, 2013-03-15, retrieved 2022-01-20^
  15. Emily Bader. Avis completes $160M acquisition of Italian vehicle rental business NJBIZ, 9 April 2015^
  16. Rental car company Avis wrecked $1 billion of its largest shareholder's stake this year Quartz, 26 February 2024^
  17. Jason Karaian. Meet the new meme stocks? Shares of Avis and Bed Bath & Beyond soar. New York Times, 3 November 2021^
  18. A Hedge Fund Made a Killing on Avis Stock. Now the Trade Is Backfiring. Wall Street Journal^