The story
Founded by Jules Lederer in 1958, in Los Angeles.1
With its original fleet of 10 cars, the company lived up to the 'Budget' name by undercutting the daily and per mile rental rates of the established airport based car rental companies. Mirkin was joined in 1959 by Julius Lederer and together, they built the company internationally. In 1960, the headquarters moved to Chicago, Illinois and the rental fleet expanded with franchised and wholly owned rental outlets.
The company was eventually acquired by Transamerica Corporation, and then sold in 1986 in a leveraged buyout by Gibbons, Green and van Amerongen Ltd., along with management (led by CEO Clifton E. Haley) and selected investors. The company made its first public stock offering in 1987.
Team Rental Group purchased the public company in 1997 and took the name Budget Group. In 2002, Budget filed for bankruptcy and was later sold to the Cendant Corporation, which also owned Avis. In September 2006, Cendant Corporation separated into four independent companies. The real estate division became Realogy, Inc., its hospitality services division became Wyndham Worldwide, and the travel distribution services division became Travelport, Inc., an affiliate of The Blackstone Group. In 2006, following the Travelport sale, Cendant—composed solely of its vehicle rental services businesses—renamed itself Avis Budget Group.
From Wikipedia’s article on Budget Rent a Car, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4