<![CDATA[Hertz handed out $16 million in retention bonuses after bankruptcy filing]]> https://usagag.com/2020/05/26/hertz-handed-out-16-million-in-retention-bonuses-after-bankruptcy-filing/ Tue, 26 May 2020 16:16:08 +0000 hourly 1 https://usagag.com Hertz handed out $16 million in retention bonuses after bankruptcy filing US 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 US regulators.

Last week, the board of the company, which counts billionaire investor Carl Icahn as its largest shareholder with a nearly 39 percent stake, allowed it to seek Chapter 11 protection in a US bankruptcy court in Delaware.

The firm is reeling under travel bans and lockdowns imposed to curb the spread of the new coronavirus. Since the virus outbreak, a large portion of Hertz’s revenue, which comes from car rentals at airports, has evaporated.

With nearly $19 billion of debt and roughly 38,000 employees worldwide as of the end of 2019, Hertz is among the largest companies to be undone by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Employees who received the retention bonuses would forfeit the right to participate in the company’s 2020 annual bonus plan.

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