The coronavirus hit retailers hard, causing businesses to file for bankruptcy across the world. Peter Kaufman, Gordian Group President joins Yahoo Finance’s On The Move panel to weigh in on the differences between chapter 7 and chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The company paid President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Stone $700,000, and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jamere Jackson $600,000 as retention bonuses, Hertz said in a filing to the U.S. regulators. Last week, the board of the company, which counts billionaire investor Carl Icahn as its largest shareholder with a nearly 39% stake, allowed it to seek chapter 11 protection in a U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware. Since the virus outbreak, a large portion of Hertz's revenue, which comes from car rentals at airports, have evaporated.

(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire investor Carl Icahn sold out of Hertz Global Holdings Inc., the rental-car company that filed for bankruptcy last week, calling off a roughly six-year bet that lost him almost $1.6 billion.Icahn, 84, sold his entire 55.3 million shares on Tuesday for 72 cents a share, according to a regulatory filing. His holding represented about 39% of the company’s stock.“Hertz has encountered major financial difficulties and I support the board in their conclusion to file for bankruptcy protection,” Icahn said in the filing Wednesday. “Yesterday I sold my equity position at a significant loss, but this does not mean that I don’t continue to have faith in the future of Hertz.”Icahn’s exit marks the end of what was a tumultuous and disappointing investment. He first took a position in the company in 2014 to agitate for the ouster of then-Chief Executive Officer Mark Frissora, and Hertz is on its fourth CEO since then. When the coronavirus then decimated the travel industry, the company was caught with too much debt accumulated over years of management turmoil and turnaround attempts.“I believe that based on a plan of reorganization that includes new capital, Hertz will again become a great company,” Icahn said. “I intend to closely follow the company’s reorganization and I look forward to assessing different opportunities to support Hertz in the future.”Read more: O.J., Accounting Fraud, Icahn: The Story of Hertz Going BustIcahn wasn’t immediately available for comment. Hertz shares fell as much as 21% to $1.04 in late trading. At the close, the company’s market capitalization was about $186.1 million.The on-paper loss Icahn registered from his Hertz stake doesn’t take into account the company’s spinoff of Herc Holdings Inc. in 2016. Icahn’s 15% stake in the equipment-leasing company is worth $134.9 million.Hertz was sold by Ford Motor Co. to private equity funds in a 2005 leveraged buyout and taken public the next year. The company also levered up to buy Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. in 2012 after a two-year bidding war with rival Avis Budget Group Inc.“It’s a saga about gross mismanagement,” said Maryann Keller, a longtime auto-industry consultant who was on the board of Dollar Thrifty when Hertz acquired the company. “It could have been salvaged had he picked the right management,” she said, referring to Icahn.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Investors need to pay close attention to Hertz Global (HTZ) stock based on the movements in the options market lately.

The New York Stock Exchange initiated proceedings to delist Hertz Global Holdings Inc (NYSE: HTZ) on Tuesday following the car rental chain's bankruptcy filing, according to Reuters. Coronavirus Fuels Hertz Bankruptcy Filing Economic damage from the coronavirus forced Hertz to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday after nearly a month of speculation. Between Feb. 20 and May 26, as the pandemic stalled airport business, Hertz's stock fell from $20.29 to $2.84."The impact of COVID-19 on travel demand was sudden and dramatic, causing an abrupt decline in the company's revenue and future bookings," the company said in a Friday press release."Hertz took immediate actions to prioritize the health and safety of employees and customers, eliminate all non-essential spending and preserve liquidity. However, uncertainty remains as to when revenue will return and when the used-car market will fully re-open for sales, which necessitated today's action."Hertz had already furloughed or laid off around 20,000 employees, replaced its CEO and, according to Reuters, discussed selling more than 30,000 of its 500,000 vehicles per month through the end of 2020 to try to raise about $5 billion. The team failed to find financial relief from creditors and the U.S. government.Hertz Grabs Carl Icahn's Attention This isn't the first time the NYSE has threatened to remove Hertz from the public market. The company received a delisting notice in 2015 for failing to file its 2014 10-K form on time.Even before the pandemic hit, Hertz had ceded enough market share to ride-sharing services to capture the attention of activist investor Carl Icahn, who claimed nearly 39% ownership when the pandemic started.The company adopted a turnaround plan. Its efforts accrued about $19 billion in debt, but helped sustain 10 consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue growth.What's Next For Hertz A bankruptcy filing isn't necessarily the end of Hertz's efforts to stay afloat."Depending upon the length of the COVID-19 induced crisis and its impact on revenue, the company may seek access to additional cash, including through new borrowings, as the reorganization progresses," the company's press release said. The stock, which has been halted since early Tuesday morning, ended Friday's session down 7.49% at $2.84. Related Links:Avis Budget Group Reports Mixed Q1 Earnings As Pandemic Hits Car Rental BusinessActivist Investors Go Dormant As COVID-19 Depresses EconomySee more from Benzinga * Activist Investors Go Dormant As COVID-19 Depresses Economy(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

(Bloomberg) -- Hertz Corp. will sell as many of its rental cars as possible while in bankruptcy to bring its huge fleet in line with reduced future demand in a post-pandemic economy, the company’s lead bankruptcy lawyer said during a court hearing Wednesday.The company must figure out how many of the 730,000 autos it controls to keep and how much debt that fleet can support, bankruptcy attorney Thomas Lauria said during a court hearing conducted by video and telephone. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, all the prediction models the company uses to run its business failed, Lauria said.“We don’t know when people will be free to move around or when people will return to traditional travel patterns and what the new normal will look like,” Lauria told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath. “The value of the business is uncertain and its capacity to service the debt is less than uncertain -- right now, it’s effectively nil.”Hertz will use the next 60 days in bankruptcy to negotiate with creditors, including those whose debt is tied to the value of the vehicle fleet, Lauria said. The company may be forced to make lease payments on the vehicle fleet after that if negotiations fail, Lauria said.Holders of bonds backed by Hertz’s fleet said in court papers that if nothing changes, those payments will hit $1 billion, mostly to compensate them for a loss in the value of the cars. During the hearing lawyers for the vehicle bondholders complained that Hertz is trying to use the cars without paying for them, which imposes losses on the bondholders.Bondholders BalkThe company filed bankruptcy on May 22 without any agreements with bondholders or detailed reorganization strategy.Vehicle bondholders accused Hertz of trying to ride out the Covid-19 crisis in bankruptcy “by relying on cash on hand and a hope that demand for rental cars will improve.” Those creditors, known as the VFN noteholders, are owed about $10.9 billion.That strategy “comes at massive and disproportionate risk to the VFN noteholders, who, after funding the purchase of the entire rental fleet, have been asked to sit idly by as the value of that rental fleet declines,” the bondholders said in the court papers.Most of the company’s $19 billion in debt is tied to the vehicle fleet, which Hertz leases from its subsidiary, Hertz Vehicle Financing LLC, a special-purpose company created to issue debt and pay for the cars. Hertz Vehicle pays the VFN noteholders in part based on how much value the fleet loses over time.When Hertz fails to make lease payments to its subsidiary, which is not in bankruptcy, the bondholders suffer.Walrath gave Hertz interim approval to take a number of routine actions needed to keep operating while in bankruptcy, including permission to pay workers, various critical suppliers using cash from about $883 million the company held when it filed for court protection.The judge also approved limits on trading in the company’s stock in order to protect tax benefits related to about $9 billion worth of net operating losses. If the company changes ownership, Hertz could lose the ability to use those losses to offset taxes on future profits.The case is The Hertz Corp. 20-11218, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Shares of Hertz Global Holdings Inc. more than doubled on heavy volume Wednesday, but retraced only a fraction of what they lost after the car rental company declared bankruptcy ahead of the long weekend.

Shares of Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ: CAR), one of the nation's largest vehicle rental companies, are jumping 11% higher Tuesday morning after a bear pulled its rating, investors digested a Hertz (NYSE: HTZ) bankruptcy, and the market cheered a potential vaccine for COVID-19. In the immediate term, as an essential business, Hertz will remain operating and has about $1 billion in cash to support operations.

According to a regulatory filing made on Wednesday, Icahn, who held a nearly 39% stake in Hertz and had three representatives on the board, sold 55.34 million shares on Tuesday at 72 cents per share. Hertz fell victim to coronavirus shutdowns that dramatically curtailed travel and created major financial hardships for the company, Icahn said in the filing, adding that he supported the board's decision to seek bankruptcy protection on Friday. At the end of 2019, his stake in Hertz was worth close to $700 million.

Shares of Hertz Global Holdings (NYSE: HTZ) fell 80% on Tuesday after the rental car giant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware. Hertz fell into bankruptcy late Friday, a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on travel demand. Hertz said that global revenue fell more than 70% year over year in April and was not enough to service its $19 billion in total debt.

U.S. car rental company Hertz Global Holdings said on Tuesday it has paid about $16.2 million in retention bonuses to a range of key executives at the director level and above, days after the company filed for bankruptcy protection. The company paid President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Stone $700,000, and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jamere Jackson $600,000 as retention bonuses, Hertz said in a filing to the U.S. regulators. Last week, the board of the company, which counts billionaire investor Carl Icahn as its largest shareholder with a nearly 39% stake, allowed it to seek chapter 11 protection in a U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware.

Hertz and LATAM became the latest companies that have been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. Yahoo Finance’s Tom Belger weighs in on how the companies are faring.

The global case tally from the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 climbed above 5.5 million on Tuesday, as the World Health Organization warned of the possibility of an immediate “second peak” in infections from the current wave, if countries and local governments ease measures to contain the spread too soon.

Hertz Global (HTZ) files for bankruptcy protection after its creditors refuse to allow further extension for clearing dues beyond May 22.

U.S. stocks ended mostly mixed on May 22, as investors tried to fathom the extent of U.S.-China tensions that rose earlier in the week.

A bullish pronouncement from JPMorgan's CEO just helped double the share price of bankrupt Hertz.

Shares in troubled car rental company Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ) sunk a further 11% to $1.16 in Wednesday’s after-hours trading on the news that Carl Icahn has sold his Hertz stake at an apparent loss of about $1.8 billion.Icahn divested 55.34M common shares for $39.8M, at a price of $0.72/ share on May 26, an SEC filing revealed. He previously owned a 39% stake in Hertz and had three representatives on the board.The 84-year old hedge fund manager stated “I have been an investor and supporter of Hertz since 2014.  Unfortunately because of Covid-19 which has caused an extremely rapid and substantial decrease in travel, Hertz has encountered major financial difficulties and I support the Board in their conclusion to file for bankruptcy protection.”“Yesterday I sold my equity position at a significant loss, but this does not mean that I don’t continue to have faith in the future of Hertz.  I believe that based on a plan of reorganization that includes new capital, Hertz will again become a great company.  I intend to closely follow the Company’s reorganization and I look forward to assessing different opportunities to support Hertz in the future.”Late on Friday Hertz filed for bankruptcy protection after the car rental firm failed to reach long-term agreements with creditors. The news sent shares down 36% to $1.82 in extended US trading.Hertz is embarking on the financial reorganization as it sees “a prolonged travel and overall global economic recovery”. During the reorganization process, the company will maintain ordinary operations, continue to pay vendors and suppliers, pay its employees, and continue with its customer loyalty programs.TipRanks data shows that three analysts in the past three months have cut Hertz stock to Sell from Hold, with a further analyst downgrading the stock to Hold. Overall, this gives Hertz a bearish Moderate Sell analyst consensus.With shares trading down 92% on a year-to-date basis, the $3.33 average analyst price target indicates 154% upside potential from the current share price. (See Hertz stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Beleaguered Hertz Sinks 36% In After-Market On Bankruptcy Protection Filing Carl Icahn Initiates Position in Delek US Holdings, Boosts Occidental Petroleum Uber In Partnership With MoneyGram For Driver Discount During Pandemic More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * HBO Max Launches, But Not Yet Available on Amazon, Roku Platforms * Apple Snaps Up AI Startup Inductiv, As Analysts Boost PTs On Store Reopenings * Microsoft Seeks $2B Stake In India’s Jio Platforms- Report * Boeing Cuts 6,770 Jobs In U.S.; CFRA Upgrades Stock To Buy

COVID-19 claimed a major corporate victim when Hertz (NYSE: HTZ) filed for bankruptcy protection last Friday. A question many investors might be asking right now amid this flurry of news is: Should I sell Hertz stock? For more context, investors must better understand the situation facing Hertz and why its lenders refused to grant the rental company an extension on its auto lease debt payments.

The stock market moved higher on Tuesday, reflecting rising optimism among investors about the prospects for a return to more normal business conditions in the coming weeks and months. Public health officials fear that relaxed mitigation efforts could bring back a resurgence of COVID-19 outbreaks, but progress on several fronts toward a possible vaccine also made market participants more comfortable. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) led the way with a greater than 2% gain, with smaller rises for the S&P 500 index (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC).

Entities controlled by Carl Icahn have sold all 55.3 million Hertz shares they owned for $39.8 million. Icahn had paid a total of $1.88 billion for the stock of the embattled car-rental firm.