Before the COVID-19 coronavirus response hammered the company in the first quarter of 2020, Hertz had ten straight quarters of revenue growth and nine straight quarters of adjusted corporate EBIDTA growth. But there were also debt issues. In 2012, Hertz acquired Dollar Thrifty for $2.3 billion to compete with Avis, Budget, and some of it’s larger rivals.
The acquisition saddled Hertz with an ever-growing pile of debt. By 2020, the company held almost $19 billion directly and through a series of financial contracts.
“Hertz has over a century of industry leadership and we entered 2020 with strong revenue and earnings momentum,” Stone said when he announced the bankruptcy. “With the severity of the COVID-19 impact on our business and the uncertainty of when travel and the economy will rebound, we need to take further steps to weather a potentially prolonged recovery.”
The company filed First Day motions to continue its business during the reorganization process. It said Hertz has more than $1 billion in cash to fund ongoing day-to-day operations.
