Cendant Corporation (NYSE: CD) is a New York-based provider of business and consumer services, primarily within the real estate and travel sectors. Cendant's headquarters located in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey.

The current CEO of Cendant is Henry Silverman.

History

In 1996, Cendant purchased Sierra Online and Davidson & Associates for $2.2 billion. However, following the fraud debacle they encountered in 1998, they have since sold off their entire interactive software branch for $1 billion to Havas Interactive, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal.

In 1998, Cendant Corporation was accused of fraud after their company's merging of CUC International and HFS Incorporated in 1997. At the time, Vice Chairman E. Kirk Shelton, had inflated the company's revenue by $500 million over a period of three years. When this report was released to the public, the resulting damage to the company due to market value was approximately $14 billion, with the company's stock trading from a high of $41 down to nearly $12. At the time, this fiasco was the largest case of accounting fraud in the country's history.

On September 15, 2004, Cendant purchased the Ramada International Hotels & Resorts unit from Marriott International. At the time, Ramada was primarily a franchised brand of 204 hotels operating in 26 countries and territories. Earlier in 2004, Cendant acquired the trademark rights to the Ramada brand in the United States, where there are 819 franchised properties. It also owns the Canadian rights. [1]

On September 29, 2004, Cendant purchased Orbitz for $1.2 billion. [2]

In early 2005, Cendant purchased ebookers for just under £190 million.

Splitting apart

As of October 24, 2005, Cendant Corporation announced its decision to split into four separate companies, citing a necessity to diversify in appealing to stockholders. These four categories include "Real Estate, Travel Distribution, Hospitality and Vehicle Rental Companies."[3]

This implementation will take effect sometime in 2006, in 3 stages, with the Real Estate division being spun off in the 2nd Quarter of 2006. There has been great controversy over whether the split is in the best interest of the company. All 4 divisions are expected to continue to share client lists and maintain symboitic business relationships.

The recently announced new name for Cendant's real estate division is Realogy, the hospitality division will be known as Wyndham Worldwide, the Travel Distribution division will be known as Travelport, and the car rental division will be called Avis Budget Group.

Cendant decided to spin off its Travel Distribution division as a separate company called Travelport.

On June 30, 2006, Cendant announced the sale of Travelport to an affiliate of the Blackstone group for $4.3 Billion.

Brands

Automobile Rentals

Cendant owns the rental brands of Avis and Budget, holding these properties in the CCRG (Cendant Car Rental Group). When a client rents a car, the pickup location may be owned by Cendant, or by a franchise firm. Avis and Budget operate a shared fleet of cars, and have the same "back end" system, but operate at different locations, offer different service levels, and have somewhat different pricing.