Agoura Guy
1 month ago
Hertz CEO Resigns After Blowing Big Gamble on EVs
Stephen Scherr, chief executive officer of Hertz Global Holdings Inc. and a member of its board of directors, will step down on March 31, following the car rental company’s largest quarterly loss since 2020 after a risky bet on electric vehicles.
According to Fox Business, Scherr is working with Gil West, former chief operating officer of Delta Airlines and General Motors’ Cruise unit, to ensure a smooth transition.
West will officially start his new role at Hertz on April 1.
Scherr, 59, joined Hertz two years ago as the company was emerging from bankruptcy and putting a big focus on EVs during that time. Prior to that, he spent nearly 30 years at Goldman Sachs.
According to Quartz, Hertz soon discovered that EVs are more expensive to maintain than they had initially thought.
And Scherr stated to investors that EVs turned out to be more of an “operational distraction.”
Scherr reportedly also told investors that Hertz’s profits experienced a $348 million loss, which he blamed EVs for.
The move has been part of the president’s effort to promote widespread adoption of EVs as part of his climate agenda.
In November, the Associated Press reported on a Consumer Reports survey that found EVs from the 2021 to 2023 model years are significantly less reliable than gasoline-powered vehicles.
A whopping eighty percent less reliable, according to the AP, particularly with battery and charging systems, as well as fit issues with body panels and interiors.
Car dealers and manufacturers are reportedly also struggling to sell EVs despite using deep discounts and promotional tactics.
The market has reached a point of saturation with early adopters, a small yet enthusiastic group willing to embrace new technologies at any cost.
Consequently, widespread hesitancy persists among the general population, deterred by steep prices, increasing interest rates and inflation, all of which have led to a surplus of unsold EVs on lots, with EVs taking significantly longer to sell than gas-powered and hybrid vehicles.
Tryn2getAhead
7 months ago
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hertz-announces-departure-of-paul-stone-search-for-new-chief-operating-officer-underway-301926096.html
ESTERO, Fla., Sept. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: HTZ) today announced that Paul Stone, Chief Operations Officer and President, will step down from his role effective September 30, 2023, to pursue opportunities in the retail sector, where he began his career. Paul will remain employed with the company in a transitional capacity through October 31, 2023.
The company will conclude a search for a Chief Operating Officer in short order. In the interim, key operations leadership will report directly to Stephen M. Scherr, Chair and Chief Executive Officer.
"I want to thank Paul for his leadership at Hertz, particularly through the company's restructuring," said Scherr. "I look forward to completing the leadership team, focused on transforming the future of Hertz, with the selection of a new COO."
"Hertz's progress under Stephen's leadership has been impressive, and I am confident that the team he has built will deliver meaningful value for customers and shareholders in the years ahead," said Stone.
tw0122
11 months ago
New Hertz apparently underpaid and super uneducated. Puerto Rico is part of US not taught in history class…lol
Hertz apologizes after refusing rental car to Puerto Rican customer
A worker at the rental chain demanded to see the American man’s passport, apparently unaware that the island is part of the US
Ramon Antonio Vargas in New Orleans
Mon 15 May 2023 01.00 EDT
The US rental car giant Hertz has apologized and pledged to retrain its staff after an employee denied a Puerto Rican customer a prepaid vehicle on the mistaken belief that he was from a foreign country and needed a passport.
‘I thought they’d kill us’: how the US navy devastated a tiny Puerto Rican island
Read more
During the encounter with the customer at New Orleans’s Louis Armstrong international airport, the Hertz employee also called over a law enforcement officer who allegedly threatened to turn the man over to immigration authorities even though Puerto Rico has been a US territory since 1898 and has a (non-voting) member of Congress, according to a stunning report the CBS correspondent David Begnaud published on Twitter and Instagram late Saturday.
Humberto Marchand’s story, as told to Begnaud, vividly illustrated the prejudice many of the US’s 53 million Spanish speakers face.
Marchand recently traveled to New Orleans and ahead of his trip paid to rent a car from Hertz at the Armstrong airport. After arriving, he went to the Hertz counter and presented his Puerto Rican driver’s license, which contained text in two languages spoken on the island: Spanish and English.
The clerk there then purportedly said to him: “We will need a passport.” Marchand told Begnaud that after he asked the woman what she meant, she made remarks that suggested he was from another country and therefore needed a passport.
Marchand – a US citizen engaging in domestic travel – did not have his passport with him, so he urged Hertz to honor his reservation as he recorded video of the interaction with his cellphone. But the clerk refused.
“You’re denying me because I have a driver’s license which is a valid ID?” Marchand said in English, in an accent resembling that of many people from Puerto Rico. “It is a valid ID. It is a valid ID.”
Holding a clipboard and pen as she walked away, the woman turned around, pointed away, and four times said: “I need you to go about your business.”
Marchand replied: “It is a valid ID. It is a valid ID. It is a valid ID. It is a prepaid reservation.”
The woman then said, “Would you like me to call the police?” Marchand told her, “Yes, please, call the police.”
The woman pulled a cellphone out of one her pockets and called out an officer who told Marchand that he needed to leave. According to Marchand, as the officer then left, he threatened to “call border patrol” if the mistreated customer didn’t leave, too.
Marchand interpreted that as a remark that he was in the US illegally despite the fact that he is as much an American citizen as the Hertz clerk and the officer presumably are.
Begnaud also described Marchand as a “federal law enforcement officer of 25 years”. A LinkedIn profile under Marchand’s name said he worked as an assistant deputy chief, mental health specialist and officer in a US probation office before retiring.
The officer at the airport belonged to the police department patrolling Kenner, the suburban New Orleans city where the Armstrong airport is located. A spokesperson for the department said the agency reviewed the officer’s body-worn camera footage and didn’t hear a remark like the one described by Marchand.
But it’s unclear exactly when the officer turned off the body-worn camera after dealing with Hertz’s call, and Marchand insisted the border patrol remark happened, according to Begnaud, who received a similar statement from the police department for the city of Kenner. The Kenner police spokesperson invited Marchand to file a complaint with the agency, which in that case would investigate further.
Hertz didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian. The company apologized to Marchand and issued him a refund immediately after being asked about his experience by Begnaud, whose Twitter and Instagram accounts are each followed by about 270,000 users.
“Hertz accepts Puerto Rican driver’s licenses from our customers renting in the US without requiring a valid passport,” the company said in a statement first sent to Begnaud and later provided to the Guardian. “We are reinforcing our policies with employees to ensure that they are understood and followed consistently across our locations.”
When asked about the employment status of the clerk who denied Marchand his reservation, a Hertz spokesperson told the Guardian that the employee “has been reminded of [the] standing policy related to Puerto Rican driver’s licenses”.
The US is home to the world’s second largest population of Spanish speakers despite English being the most common language. It trails only Mexico, a country of 127 million people whose official language is Spanish.
This article was amended on 16 May 2023 to clarify that Puerto Rico has a non-voting member of the US House of Representatives.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/15/hertz-apologizes-puerto-rican-customer-new-orleans
gp22
1 year ago
PHASQ @ .06...News out. PhaseBio has $100M+ deal on table. Terrific HTZ-like CH. 11 squeeze play op. Link:
PhaseBio used a brilliant strategy to take a voluntary Chapter 11 and delisting from Nasdaq on 11/03/22. Their plan is to force their recalcitrant partner and opponent in Court, SFJ Pharma, to agree to a deal to auction the PHASQ lead drug.
They have a solid stalking horse bid of $100M from AstraZeneca for rights to their lead drug with other major drug companies also in the hunt.
Today, 11/03/22, PHASQ was in Court in Delaware making their case to a very receptive Judge.
The Judge said, "This case cries out for a business solution". {On audio recording of Court proceedings today}.
PHASQ and SFJ Pharma agreed to talks today in Court based on the Judges urging.
PHASQ is well worth tuning in in coming sessions
Link: 11/03/22 news
https://www.mychesco.com/a/news/business/phasebio-plans-for-near-term-sale-using-structured-process-through-chapter-11-of-u-s-bankruptcy-code/
sony12
2 years ago
Based on FTSE Russell’s preliminary reconstitution projections, nearly 300 stocks will join the Russell 3000 index. The list of names moving into the Russell 3000 include Airbnb (ABNB), Bumble (BMBL), Coinbase Global (COIN), Gulfport Energy (GPOR), Hertz Global (HTZ), and Lucid Group (LCID
jaxstraw
2 years ago
Ex-Goldman CFO in line for $250mn pay boost as Hertz chief if shares surge
Car rental group appoints Stephen Scherr as it attempts to transform itself following bankruptcy and restructuring
Stephen Scherr, a former top executive at Goldman Sachs, stands to make at least $250mn in his new role as chief executive of Hertz, if the car rental agency’s share price surges over the next five years or is sold.
Scherr, who was named chief executive of Hertz on Friday, was awarded a total of 12.5mn Hertz shares that will vest depending on how its stock performs in the coming years, according to a regulatory filing.
If Scherr were to receive all of his shares at the current stock price, the incentive pay package is worth about $250mn, although it may yield a far higher payout if Hertz stock skyrockets in the future, as its current owners expect.
If that windfall materialises, Scherr, who was once considered a potential candidate to lead Goldman Sachs as chief executive before he left the bank last year, may see his pay exceed that of the investment bank’s current leader, David Solomon.
Some awards will not vest if Hertz’s stock stagnates, or the company is not sold. “The terms of such equity awards are designed to align Mr Scherr’s compensation with the company’s longer-term stock price performance,” Hertz said in a filing.
Scherr left Goldman last year after 28 years at the Wall Street firm and was most recently the bank’s chief financial officer. At the time of his departure, the Financial Times reported it was Scherr’s decision to quit the bank and that he was open to leadership positions at other companies.
Before becoming chief financial officer, Scherr was head of Goldman’s consumer and commercial banking division where he helped launch Marcus, the firm’s consumer lending brand.
Described by some former colleagues at Goldman as intellectual and cerebral, some executives at the bank mentioned him as a potential future successor to Solomon if he were to depart in the short term.
Hertz, which filed for bankruptcy in May 2020 as business travel dried up and its heavy automotive fleet-related debts grew, has emerged from restructuring with record profits and a new vision to be a critical piece of electric car and autonomous taxi infrastructure in the US.
Distressed debt investor Knighthead Capital Management and travel-focused private equity firm Certares Capital Management led Hertz’s emergence from bankruptcy in July 2021. They are working to use Hertz’s current profits to convert its combustion engine fleet to electric vehicles.
Hertz has ordered 100,000 vehicles from Elon Musk’s Tesla as part of a broader partnership with the electric carmaker. It has also begun working with ride-hailing group Uber to make its fleet available to drivers, and tapped online used car seller Carvana to buy and sell cars from the company.
These partnerships and surging rental car prices have propelled Hertz’s stock since it emerged from bankruptcy. As of the end of 2021, the Financial Times pegged the value of Knighthead and Certares’s combined $2bn investment, representing about 40 per cent of Hertz’s outstanding stock, at about $5bn.
“We have bold plans for Hertz over the long haul and we need a leader who knows how to turn big ideas into reality while inspiring people to work hard for change,” said Tom Wagner, who founded Knighthead Capital in 2008 after leading Goldman Sachs’ distressed debt trading desk.
“Hertz is an extraordinary brand and a resilient business that is perfectly positioned to reshape how people move about in a safe, convenient, affordable and more environmentally-friendly way,” Scherr added in a statement on Friday.
According to a recent regulatory filing, Scherr owns just shy of 88,000 Goldman shares, which are worth $31.5mn based on the bank’s closing stock price on Thursday.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited .
jaxstraw
2 years ago
Elizabeth Warren is a moron.
Hertz is breaking no regulations or laws and she is just grandstanding.
_-----------------------
Exclusive: Elizabeth Warren blasts Hertz for $2 billion stock buyback while jacking up rental car prices
By Matt Egan, CNN Business
Updated 7:01 AM ET, Tue December 7, 2021
Hertz has gone from bankruptcy court to buybacks in the span of five months. And Senator Elizabeth Warren is not happy about it.
The Massachusetts Democrat wrote Hertz (HTZ) a letter Monday calling the company out for rewarding shareholders with up to $2 billion in stock buybacks despite skyrocketing rental car prices.
Warren questioned why Hertz is plowing money into buybacks instead of investing in new inventory that could ease the supply-demand imbalance.
"This decision, and other actions taken before and after Hertz's bankruptcy process," Warren wrote in a letter obtained exclusively by CNN, "reveals that the company is happy to reward executives, company insiders, and big shareholders while stiffing consumers with record- high rental car costs and ignoring the recent history that nearly wiped out the company."
Hertz filed for bankruptcy in May 2020 as the pandemic crushed the travel industry, making it one of the highest-profile bankruptcies of the health crisis. At the time, Hertz notified 12,000 employees in North America that they were losing their jobs. An additional 4,000 employees were furloughed.
Earlier this year, a group of investment firms acquired Hertz out of bankruptcy in a deal that eventually included Apollo Global Management, an alternative asset manager. Hertz, which also operates the Dollar and Thrifty brands, successfully emerged from bankruptcy in late June 2021.
By October, Hertz reported a record adjusted profit and corporate margin. Hertz said that although rental car volumes are below 2019 levels, this was offset by "improvements in pricing power."
In her letter, Warren cited an analyst at Jefferies who estimated Hertz was charging a daily median rental price of $114.49 in August — up by 147% from pre-pandemic levels.
"You owe your customers and the public an explanation for this $2 billion buyback," Warren wrote in the letter to Hertz interim CEO Mark Fields, "and whether it is in the best interests of the long-term health of the company and its consumers."
Hertz said late Monday that it had received Warren's letter and intends to respond.
When Hertz announced its buyback plans in late November, the company said the repurchase program would allow for "ongoing and profitable investment in the business" while utilizing "moderate" balance sheet leverage.
Car rental rates spike nearly 40%
The criticism from Warren is part of a broader pushback from progressives amid historic levels of inflation by calling out what they view as corporate greed and excessive corporate concentration.
Warren recently slammed energy companies for exporting record amounts of natural gas despite surging prices, even though it is perfectly legal to ship liquefied natural gas overseas.
President Joe Biden has similarly called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether illegal conduct is driving up gas prices — a move that the oil industry criticized as a "distraction."
Of course, rental car rates have been rising sharply industrywide, not just at Hertz.
Car and truck rental prices surged by 39.1% in October from the year before, according to government statistics.
The sticker shock is a reflection of multiple factors, including strong demand as the economy recovers from Covid and weak supply amid the computer chip shortage. The lack of computer chips has caused auto companies to shut down production, limiting the supply of cars for rental car companies to beef up their fleets.
This has driven a windfall for the car rental industry. Shares of Avis Budget (CAR) have surged more than 600% in 2021. The company recently reported sales nearly doubled from a year ago and net income skyrocketed 1,400%.
'Weakens capital reserves'
Hertz said its $2 billion buyback program will come after the company completes a deal to buy back all of its Series A preferred stock, most of which is owned by private-equity giant Apollo Global Management.
The buyback "weakens capital reserves as the country faces a new scare from the Omicron coronavirus variant that again threatens the travel industry," Warren wrote, "and as Hertz faces fresh questions about how long it will take the company to rebuild its rental car inventory."
Warren asked Hertz to respond to a series of questions by December 17, including what impact the buyback will have on the company investing in its business, when it will return to pre-pandemic rental car inventory and whether Hertz considered reducing customer prices instead of buybacks.
jaxstraw
2 years ago
Hertz Announces $2.0 Billion Share Repurchase Program
ESTERO, Fla., Nov. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HTZ) ("Hertz" or the "Company") today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program of up to $2.0 billion of the Company's outstanding common stock.
The repurchase program is effective immediately and will initially comprise the remaining $200 million that was authorized for repurchase at the time of the Company's offering and listing on NASDAQ. Hertz will be able to pursue the balance of the authorized amount upon completion of its previously disclosed tender offer and consent solicitation with respect to its outstanding Series A Preferred Stock, so long as holders of a majority of the Series A Preferred Stock tender such shares in the tender offer or deliver consents to certain amendments to the Series A Preferred Stock. Investment funds, accounts and other entities owned (in whole or in part), controlled, managed or advised by Apollo Capital Management, L.P. and its affiliates (collectively, "Apollo"), as holders of a majority of the outstanding Series A Preferred Stock, have agreed on the terms and subject to the conditions contained in an agreement between Hertz and Apollo to tender in the offer their shares referred to therein and to consent to the such amendment effective upon the completion of the tender offer.
The repurchase program allows for ongoing and profitable investment in the business while utilizing moderate balance sheet leverage and facilitating opportunistic share repurchases. The Company currently intends to maintain Net Corporate Leverage1 of no more than 1.5x.
Repurchases will be made at management's discretion through a variety of methods, such as open-market transactions (including pre-set trading plans), privately negotiated transactions, accelerated share repurchases, and other transactions in accordance with applicable securities laws. The program has no time limit. The share repurchase authorization does not obligate the Company to acquire any particular amount of common stock and can be discontinued at any time. There can be no assurance as to the timing or number of shares of any repurchases.
pitacorp
2 years ago
i remember that ticker from day 1, and I think less that 1.50 a share at one point, but then lost track.. but when it changed to the new ticker that it is now, did it just pop up in price? ( since the new ticker is about 14.50 for the 52 wk low) or did they do a conversion for existing shareholders?? either way, still looked enticing, just trying to get my story straight here
robert peebles
2 years ago
This shelf stock offering of 37 million shares....it's coming anyday and they will price it below the closing stock price,,,,my guess is $2-4 below whatever the closing stock price is.
There will be a sharp drop in both the warrants and stock temporarily,,probably best to sell now and look to buy on the release of the stock sale
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Monksdream
3 days ago
MasterBlastr
2 years ago
Renee
2 years ago
TheFinalCD
2 years ago
Eldeano57
2 years ago
Lowjack
2 years ago
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