Trying Even Harder

What do a global telephone network and a second-place U.S. auto-rental company have in common? Whatever it is, International Telephone & Telegraph Co. and Avis Rent a Car obviously felt that it was something worth cultivating. Last week, in one of the year's more unusual mergers, the two decided to become one. Avis, which had revenues in the last fiscal year of $44 million, agreed to sell itself to giant I.T. &T. (1963 sales: $1.4 billion) for $40 million worth of I.T. & T. stock.

"Avis has a great potential for expansion abroad," said I.T. & T. Chairman and President Harold S. Geneen, "where I.T. &T. has operations and marketing experience." There was some logic in that, but it had obviously at first escaped Avis Chairman Robert C. Townsend, who coined the "We Try Harder" slogan that has helped make No. 2 Avis a much stronger competitor for first-place Hertz. Said he: "At first, I wondered how a small company could be acquired by a large one without losing some of its spark. But now I'm enthusiastic. We'll try even harder."

With I.T. & T. resources smoothing its way, Avis will be able to put a good deal more power behind its harder try. Under Townsend's tutelage, the firm went from a $3,258,000 deficit in 1962 to a $2,913,000 profit last fiscal year. It still has a long way to go to overtake Hertz, which has three times as many cars and five times the gross income. But the tie-up with I.T. & T. will give Avis a foothold abroad, where Hertz dominates, and make more realistic its goal for 1967: double its present revenues and profit margins.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.