hertz disambiguation . hertz corporation 2009 present logo type public traded as nyse htz industry rental and leasing founded 1918 founder john d. hertz headquarters estero florida u.s. area served worldwide key people ceo john p tague 1 owner hertz global holdings number of employees 29 350 2 divisions hertz equipment rental hertz car sales hertz on demand subsidiaries donlen corporation website www.hertz.com hertz office livonia michigan the hertz corporation a subsidiary of hertz global holdings inc 3 is an american car rental company with international locations in 150 countries worldwide . 3 hertz is the largest u.s. car rental company by sales . 4 on may 7 2013 it was announced that hertz would relocate its corporate headquarters to estero just outside fort myers in southwest florida . 5 6 contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 the hertz corporation 1.3 key executives 1.4 hertz global holdings inc 1.5 headquarters relocation 1.6 locations 2 fleet 2.1 specialty cars 2.2 green collection and electric cars 2.3 hertz 24 7 car sharing 2.4 simply wheelz and advantage 3 advertising 3.1 let hertz put you in the driver s seat 3.2 john f. kennedy assassination 3.3 o.j. simpson 4 low floor passenger bus 5 heavy equipment rental 6 references history edit early years edit the company was founded by walter l. jacobs in 1918 who started a car rental operation in chicago with a dozen model t ford cars . in 1923 jacobs sold it to john d. hertz who made it a subsidiary of his yellow truck and coach manufacturing company and renamed it hertz drive ur self system . he sold a controlling interest in the yellow truck and coach manufacturing company and hence also hertz drive ur self to general motors in 1925 who then purchased the remaining shares in 1943 . hertz arranged for the omnibus corporation which he also owned to purchase the car rental business back from gm in 1953 . he sold all the omnibus corporation s public transport interests the same year changed its name to the hertz corporation and floated it on the new york stock exchange the following year . the hertz corporation edit in 1954 the new corporation bought new york truck leasing company metropolitan distributors . 7 in 1967 the hertz corporation became a wholly owned subsidiary of rca but was operated as a separate entity . in 1985 hertz joined and was acquired by ual corporation . on december 30 1987 hertz was sold to park ridge corporation which was then owned by ford motor company and members of hertz senior management . in 1988 volvo north america corporation invested in park ridge corporation . 7 on june 13 2005 ford issued a notice that hertz would be let loose in an initial public offering . on september 8 2005 it was announced it was to be sold to private equity companies clayton dubilier & rice the carlyle group and merrill lynch global private equity for 15 billion in cash and debt acquisition . 8 the sale was completed on december 22 2005 . this private equity group took hertz public on november 16 2006 . on january 11 2010 hertz announced the acquisition of used cars dealer british car auctions bca for an undisclosed sum . 9 in november 2011 hertz introduced expressrent kiosks at a number of locations . this was the first large scale car rental kiosk deployment in the u.s. using a live agent assistant via video chat . 10 on january 3 2014 it was reported that hertz shares had jumped in value by 2.6 % after the reported purchase of 30 40 million shares by billionaire carl icahn in what was believed to be a hostile takeover attempt . in response to icahn s reported share purchase the hertz board reportedly stated that it would issue one preferred share for each current share in what is referred to as a poison pill response . 11 key executives edit john tague john p. tague was named president and chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of the hertz corporation in november 2014 . 12 tom kennedy has served as senior executive vice president and chief financial officer since december 2013 . he is responsible for all aspects of financial management encompassing treasury tax risk management accounting financial reporting business planning corporate development and corporate policies and procedures . 13 jeffrey jeff t. foland is the senior executive vice president and chief revenue officer since january 2015 with oversight of global car rental marketing sales pricing and revenue functions . 14 tyler best is the executive vice president and chief information officer since january 2015 . he oversees the company s global information technology it functions . 15 alexandria marren is the executive vice president north american rental car operations since august 2015 . 16 eliana zem has served as the executive vice president and chief human resources officer of hertz since june 2015 . 17 michel taride was appointed executive vice president and president of hertz international ltd. in january 2010 . taride has managed fleet planning and remarketing functions of hertz international since december 2010 . 18 hertz global holdings inc edit in april 2010 hertz and dollar thrifty automotive group announced an agreement under which hertz was to acquire dollar thrifty for a purchase price of us 41 per share subject to shareholder approval in a mix of cash and hertz common stock . 19 dollar thrifty investors in tulsa oklahoma rejected this us 1 440 000 000 bid from hertz on september 30 2010 . 20 dollar thrifty subsequently announced on october 12 2011 that it had taken itself off the market because it did not receive any proposals that would pass antitrust review . 21 on august 28 2012 hertz announced for the second time its intention to acquire dollar thrifty subject to ftc approval in this case for us 2 300 000 000 . 22 this merger would yield combined annual sales of us 10 200 000 000 . 4 the deal was concluded in november 2012 and resulted in a combined 10 400 locations in approximately 150 countries . headquarters relocation edit on may 7 2013 hertz executives alongside florida governor rick scott announced the company would be relocating its worldwide headquarters from park ridge new jersey to estero florida . it will be located on the southeast corner of the intersection of williams road and u.s. highway 41 south tamiami trail though some operations will still occur in its old headquarters in park ridge . locations edit hertz office on the island of martha s vineyard hertz operates in 145 countries . outside the us hertz has company operated locations in 18 countries the rest being franchises . as of december 2012 update the company had approximately 3 210 staffed rental locations in the united states and around 1 215 staffed rental locations internationally . 23 overland west is the largest hertz licensee in north america operating 22 car rental and 5 car sales locations in 7 states . 24 wilford gwilliam purchased the hertz franchise in 1941 . he later sold it to devere j. sparrow who led the organization until 1976 when he sold it to his son in law jerry h. petersen . jerry grew the business from just a few rental locations and one sales location to what it is today and still serves as the owner president and ceo . fleet edit the hertz fleet consists of a wide majority of vehicle manufacturers with the majority being gm products . luxury cars are provided by mercedes infiniti and cadillac . previously due to hertz s affiliation with ford the rental fleet of most locations consisted of ford and its brands such as mazda volvo mercury and lincoln along with various others mostly korean and japanese . as of december 2012 update the company has over 490 000 cars in the us and a rental fleet in its international operations of over 177 000 cars exclusive of its licensees fleet . specialty cars edit in 1966 hertz engaged racing and automotive designer carroll shelby to develop an exclusive version of his modified ford mustang . one thousand gt350h mustangs were built and ultimately sold once their rental use had ended ; however many of them were missing the matching engine . some customers would rent the car for a weekend and swap out the high performance engine with a base version 289 cu in 4.7 l v8 . engine inspections upon return of the rental unit were not common place so nobody found out until the car was due for service . by that time there was no way to track down the engine thief . the so called rent a racer program in the late 1960s was available in selected locations and the fleet also included corvettes jaguar xk es and amc amxs . 25 26 in 2006 the 40th anniversary of the original gt350h hertz introduced the shelby mustang gt h as part of the fun collection at select locations . this was followed in 2007 with a convertible version of the gt h. 2008 saw 500 chevrolet corvettes badged as zhz available from selected us airports ; the following year 350 convertible zhzs joined the fleet . both were finished in hertz corporate yellow with a central black stripe . in 2013 hertz paired with penske and ford to manufacture specially modified black and yellow 2013 ford mustang gt premium coupes that were individually numbered for their fleets at select u.s. airports . all of hertz s us specialty cars featured sirius satellite radio hertz s neverlost navigation system and other features that may not be equipped or at least may cost extra on their standard class vehicles . green collection and electric cars edit hertz launched its green collection in september 2006 with environmentally friendly vehicles including the toyota prius ford fusion buick lacrosse toyota camry and hyundai sonata . 27 all feature environmental protection agency epa highway fuel efficiency ratings of 28 mpg us 8.4 l 100 km ; 34 mpg imp or better on the highway . 28 in early 2007 hertz launched its global hybrid rental program in conjunction with a 1 million donation to the national park foundation . 29 hertz has an agreement with nissan to bring the nissan leaf electric car to certain u.s. and european locations . hertz said it also will supply electrics and plug in hybrids from other manufacturers including general motors toyota and mitsubishi . 30 hertz 24 7 car sharing edit hertz 24 7 formerly hertz on demand and earlier connect by hertz 31 is the hertz corporation s global car sharing service launched in december 2008 and currently operates in outside of the united states in select cities in europe and in sydney australia . 32 33 34 hertz 24 7 shut down its united states operations including university campuses in 2015 and had previously shut operations in select cities in years prior to the full shutdown . 35 on university campuses hertz 24 7 offered vehicles in the personal social and jet set collections . 36 as part of hertz global ev initiative hertz 24 7 offers for hour rental several electric cars at selected locations in the us the uk and china . the plug in electric vehicles that will be available include the nissan leaf chevrolet volt mitsubishi i miev tesla roadster smart ed toyota prius plug in hybrid and coda sedan . as of may 2011 the smart ed the chevy volt and the nissan leaf are available in new york city . 37 later in 2011 plug in cars will be introduced in san francisco and washington d.c. 38 39 in april 2011 the mitsubishi i mievs began to be offered in london for rental to hertz 24 7 members . 40 simply wheelz and advantage edit for