Changing gear

摘要

With a fleet of 12 Model T Fords, Walter Jacobs opened in Chicago in 1918 the rental business that was to become Hertz, now the world's biggest car-hire firm. In 1923, Jacobs sold his pioneering business to John Hertz. It was the first in a long series of ownership changes that continued this week with the announcement that Ford Motor Company, the main owner of Hertz since 1985, is to sell it to a consortium of three private-equity firms in a deal worth $15 billion in debt and equity.