Founded in 1918 in Chicago, Hertz was for many decades one of the leading players in the U.S. rental-car industry, churning out billions of dollars of revenue each year. Those billions, though, were dependent on the company’s customers traveling. When the pandemic arrived, that travel stopped, and trouble ensued.
By the end of April 2020, Hertz was missing lease payments on its fleet. On May 18, Kathryn Marinello stepped down as CEO. Four days later, on May 22, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing $18 billion in debt. Shortly after that, famed activist investor Carl Icahn sold his entire 39% stake in Hertz for a mere 72 cents per share, taking a $2 billion loss.
Hertz is now looking for a 250 million cash infusion to stay out of bankruptcy again. If bankruptcy hits Lee county taxpayers may lose 98 million in incentives that the Lee County Commissioners paid Hertz.
Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (HTZWW) stock is trading at $9.08 as of 1:02 PM on Thursday, Sep 22, 2022, a drop of -$0.87, or -8.74% from the previous closing price of $9.95. The stock has traded between $8.92 and $9.90 so far today. Volume today is high. So far 286,430 shares have traded compared to the average volume of 178,286 shares.