GenesisIntermedia.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: GENI) (Frankfurt: GIA), a leading developer of Internet technologies and Internet companies, announced that it has acquired Car Rental Direct.com, Inc. (CRD), a fast growing car rental agency that provides vehicles for the local and replacement segments of the $16.9 billion auto rental industry.
Car Rental Direct.com has a highly memorable web brand name, and eight existing locations in Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada. GENI will infuse capital, as well as expertise in marketing, management, Internet development and other key areas into the CRD subsidiary in order to reach the goals of becoming the leader in business-to-business and business-to-consumer car rental activity on the Internet, and of opening a minimum of 225 locations within three years. CRD, which has been in operation under a year, is currently generating revenues exceeding $400,000 per month, and has already met its operational break-even point.
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Complementing its unique business model and innovative growth strategies, CRD benefits from a strong management team with a combined 60 years experience in the automobile rental industry. The team brings a broad variety of competencies, and depth of experience.
This is GENI’s fifth acquisition in accordance with its development business model. GENI will use its core competencies to build a high-impact Internet presence for CRD and initiate other processes that will enable CRD to enjoy significant growth in the local and replacement rental car market. Augmenting an existing web site, the proposed enhanced site will list not only car availability, locations, hours of operation and the standard operational information, but will also contain specifications on the cars in inventory, and will allow for the safe transmission of not only credit card, but driver’s license information, so that cars could be ordered completely online, and delivered to the customer’s front door. CRD locations will continue to be established in the suburban markets, within the actual neighborhoods where consumers live, and not strictly by airports. By being the first car rental company to offer online resources to the suburban market, CRD will benefit from increased consumer accessibility.
Its strategic growth plan calls for the establishment of a franchise system under which existing independent car rental agencies would become Car Rental Direct.com locations and under which franchise territories would be granted to franchisees who meet certain criteria. Its growth plan also places emphasis and importance on Internet traffic. CRD will determine, based on the origin of traffic to its web site, the geographic areas into which it will expand.
“Synergistically, this acquisition is a perfect fit for GENI, as Car Rental Direct.com targets an underserved niche market that has tremendous potential, both as a brick-and-mortar operation and as an Internet company,” stated Ramy El-Batrawi, Chairman of GenesisIntermedia.com, Inc. “With rental car needs increasing for consumers in their everyday lives due to repairs to owned vehicles and temporary needs, consumers need easy access to rental cars at locations other than airports.”
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By GlobalDataFurther synergies exist between CRD, GENI and CENTERLINQ. GENI plans to advertise CRD over its CENTERLINQ network, which currently creates 22 million impressions per month and is building a solid base of loyalty shopper accounts throughout the United States. CENTERLINQ account holders will receive discounts for automobile rentals through CRD.
“We are excited about this acquisition and the long-term benefits we believe it will bring to GENI,” continued El-Batrawi. “We expect to realize several major benefits from this acquisition including building a leading brand in the local and replacement car rental market, adding an important revenue stream to GENI, expanding the scope of our e-commerce capabilities, increasing opportunities to cross-promote CENTERLINQ and our other technologies, and, most importantly, adding to our profitability and increasing our growth rate. The growth plan for CRD will be augmented by a presence on the CENTERLINQ network, and this will be the first of hopefully many GENI-owned companies that we will promote through our proprietary resources.”
The replacement segment of the auto rental industry consists of rental for the purpose of temporary fleet enhancement, temporary replacement of vehicles that have been sold, stolen or being repaired for mechanical or accident related reasons. This segment is characterized by lower administrative and marketing costs and higher fleet utilization than the non-replacement segment, thereby potentially creating a higher return on investment.
CRD is also approved under the American Disabilities Act, and will have the ability to offer hand controls for all vehicles, and wheelchair access vans.
About CENTERLINQ
CENTERLINQ is a rapidly expanding unified network that’s accessible via the world wide web and through public access touch-screen Internet kiosks in shopping malls. Currently reaching more than 22,000,000 consumers per month, CENTERLINQ attracts a diverse audience with one of the largest loyalty shopping programs in the U.S., providing coupons, directories and quick-touch access to high-profile national advertising partners. The kiosks also provide information regarding the preferences and interests of the consumers who utilize them, enabling businesses to successfully target consumers likely to purchase their products and services in the future.
CENTERLINQ was recently honored by Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) with the 2000 Retail Application Developer “RAD” award for “Best Retail Headquarters Application” in the category of Core Retail Marketing, its second such honor within three years.
About GENI
GenesisIntermedia.com, Inc. (GENI) is a developer of Internet technologies and Internet companies. As it has done with CENTERLINQ, GENI leverages its strength in operations, marketing and the deployment of traditional and new media to advance new and innovative technologies within strategically identified market segments.
GENI’s execution of the CENTERLINQ platform, the first technology deployed within the Company’s incubation model, has resulted in rapid expansion for the network into 20 shopping malls in the United States, with 17 of those installations occurring in the fourth quarter of 1999.
This document contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. For such statements, GenesisIntermedia.com claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual events or results may differ materially from those discussed in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors discussed in GenesisIntermedia.com’s Form 10ksb filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
