Hertz Puts Bankruptcy Behind It With Transformational Plans


Skift Take

Hertz's new ownership has grand plans to remake the car rental firm. Over the next few years, you'll find out if that really happened depending on your experience at an airport car rental counter near you.

After shedding $5 billion of debt, car-rental firm Hertz has a chance to make the most of its opportunities under new ownership now that it is emerging from bankruptcy protection. Hertz filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2020, and is coming out of bankruptcy Wednesday, after a several-month bidding war and auction, under a $6 billion reorganization plan funded by Knighthead, Certares and Apollo. "Faced with the epic and unprecedented challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, and unfazed by early leadership changes, we stayed focused on stabilizing the business and seizing opportunities to mitigate losses and create value for our stakeholders," said Henry Keizer, the outgoing chairman of the Hertz board of directors when the reorganization became official Wednesday afternoon,. "When the economy began to