Avis Budget Group, Inc. (CAR)

Avis Budget Group was paid $650 million in cash on October 5, 2026, settling its lawsuit against Pentwater Capital Management to recover short-swing profits 24.

The company said the court approved the payment and that it expects to use a portion to repay the remaining $350 million of its 5.750% Senior Notes due 2027 before year end 4.

The company said the payment belongs in its fourth quarter financial statements 4.

In the second quarter of 2026, revenue was $3.0 billion and net income was $63 million 3.

Adjusted EBITDA, the company's own profit measure with several charges left out, was $286 million 3.

Revenue was $41 million lower than a year earlier, mainly because rental volume fell 2 percent 2.

Costs fell faster, mainly because fleet costs were lower 2.

Chief executive Brian Choi said the company resized its fleet as booking trends shifted, to protect utilization and returns 3.

In the six months to June 30, 2026, the net loss attributable to the company was $248 million, a loss $253 million smaller than a year earlier 2.

The pandemic cut travel in 2020, and revenue fell 41 percent to $5,402 million from $9,172 million 9.

Volume fell 38 percent, and the company posted a net loss of $684 million 9.

Demand came back: in 2022 revenue rose 29 percent to $11,994 million, with volume up 23 percent and revenue per day up 8 percent 7.

Net income that year was $2,756 million, and the company repurchased about 16.7 million of its own shares for about $3.3 billion 7.

In 2023 the company completed the purchase of McNicoll Vehicle Hire, a Scottish van and car rental business, for about $17 million 1.

In 2024 revenue fell $219 million, or 2 percent, mainly because revenue per day fell 3 percent 8.

The company had changed its fleet strategy to rotate cars out sooner and to shorten the useful life it assumed for them, which raised depreciation 8.

It also wrote down the value of those cars: impairment and related charges were $2,470 million, and net income swung from $1,635 million a year earlier to a loss of $1,817 million 8.

In 2025 revenue slipped $137 million, or 1 percent, to $11,652 million, mostly because revenue per day fell 1 percent 1.

The net loss narrowed to $995 million 1.

It included a $518 million impairment on US electric rental cars tied to the Interpace Ventures deal and $390 million of other fleet charges 1.

Joseph Ferraro, then president and chief executive, was to move to a Board Advisor role effective June 30, 2025, the company announced in February 2025 1.

In 2025 it also announced a multi-year partnership with Waymo to support driverless ride-hailing in Dallas 1.

Car rental: Avis, Budget and Payless

Avis is the premium brand, sold on service and convenience, and it brought in about $6.6 billion of revenue in 2025 1.

Budget aims at value for money and brought in about $4.3 billion 1.

Payless serves the deep-value end from about 310 locations, and older Avis and Budget cars are moved down to it as they pass age or mileage limits 1.

Counting licensee locations, Avis has 4,695 locations and Budget has 3,710 1.

Licensees in about 175 countries paid the company royalties of $150 million in 2025 1.

By region, the Americas brought in $8,900 million of 2025 revenue and International $2,752 million 1.

In the second quarter of 2026, Americas revenue was $2,288 million with Adjusted EBITDA of $237 million, while International revenue was $710 million with $73 million 2.

Budget Truck and Zipcar

Budget Truck rents trucks and cargo vans for moves and light commercial work, with about 24,000 vehicles on average in 2025 and about 800 locations, roughly half run by the company 1.

Zipcar is a car-sharing network where members book self-service cars by the hour or the day in cities and on campuses 1.

Fleet, people and rivals

The rental fleet averaged about 665,000 vehicles in the second quarter of 2026 2.

Vehicle utilization, the share of available fleet days that were rented, reached 72.6 percent, up 1.9 points, and fleet costs per car were $290 a month 32.

No vehicle brand made up more than 11 percent of 2025 purchases, and the company bought mainly from Toyota, Chevrolet, Ford, Mazda and Kia, among others 1.

Program vehicles, which a manufacturer agrees to buy back, were 52 percent of the International fleet and 3 percent of the Americas fleet in 2025 1.

The company employed about 25,000 people at the end of 2025, about 8,000 of them part time, and about 30 percent were covered by union or similar agreements 1.

Brian Choi is chief executive 3.

Jagdeep Pahwa signed the annual report as chairman of the board 1.

Ravi Simhambhatla, chief digital and innovation officer, was to stay in his role until September 30 6.

Its main rivals in car rental are Enterprise Holdings, Hertz Global Holdings, Europcar Mobility Group and Sixt SE, and in truck rental U-Haul, Penske, Ryder and Enterprise Truck Rental 1.

Current problems

A class action in New Jersey federal court, filed in September 2014 by renters, alleges misleading statements about charging customers for traffic infractions and related administrative fees 2.

In February 2026 the plaintiffs agreed to limit the class to renters from September 30, 2008 through April 2016 2.

Stockholders' equity was negative $3,374 million at the end of June 2026, which the company puts down to its net loss 2.

Liquidity was about $1.0 billion at the end of the quarter, with another $1.9 billion of fleet funding capacity 3.

The umbrella, in words

The company runs three main brands, Avis, Budget and Zipcar, plus Payless, Apex, AmicoBlu, Maggiore, FranceCars, McNicoll Hire and Turiscar 1.

Avis Budget Rental Car Funding (AESOP) LLC is its fleet financing subsidiary, and on September 21, 2026 it issued $650 million of asset-backed securities secured by vehicles in the domestic fleet 5.

Interpace Ventures LLC is a joint venture the company completed on December 30, 2025 with outside investors, as part of an effort to monetize available tax credits 12.

Avis Mobility Ventures LLC is a former subsidiary, deconsolidated in 2022, of which the company owned about 35 percent at the end of 2025, and it still supplies vehicles and fleet services to it 1.

Of about 10,000 rental locations worldwide, about 3,800 are run by licensees 1.

It owns its Parsippany, New Jersey headquarters and about 3 percent of the locations it operates from, and leases or holds concessions for the rest 1.

Who holds large blocks of its shares is set out in the proxy statement, which the annual report incorporates by reference 1.

The company said it expects to use part of the settlement to repay the remaining $350 million of its 5.750% Senior Notes due 2027 before year end 4.

Its annual report says the public launch of the Waymo service in Dallas was planned for 2026, and the company later reported that the service went live on June 1st 13.

For 2026 the company says its strategy centers on efficiency, analytics, customer experience and innovation, including wider access to Avis First, a premium service launched in 2025 1.

In March 2026 it set up a program under which it may sell up to 5 million shares through sales agents, and none had been sold by June 30, 2026 2.

In June 2026 it refinanced its $2 billion senior revolving credit facility with a new one maturing in June 2031 and set up a new $200 million facility maturing in June 2028 3.