As Cendant's largest shareholder, Mr Silverman has every incentive to claw his way back.
As an example, consider the involvement of 17 of 22 business units at Cendant in accounting improprieties.
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But to truly help investors, Cendant should exit from vehicles entirely by unloading the Avis and Budget car rental businesses.
Cendant has only just completed its purchase of National Car Parks, which includes another breakdown service, Green Flag.
Cendant, for example, claims to have converted 41 Choice hotel operators in 2000.
As for Cendant, some money managers are taking a more qualitative approach, following the leader rather than the money.
Deloitte has been auditor of this company, previously known as Cendant, since 1998.
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Cendant's other owners might wish they could wipe out their losses as easily.
So Cendant upped the ante by folding its fleet management arm (handling other companies' trucks and cars) into the deal.
Good Enough for Government Work Touting its property acumen, worldwide brokerage network ERA Real Estate , part of Cendant Corp.
Brent Wilsey won't be jumping quickly to buy any of Cendant's four spinoffs when they hit the market next spring.
Cendant can use Orbitz to aggregate its assets into a single sales channel that can be displayed on its customers' computer screens.
Cendant, home to brands like motel chain Ramada Inn and real estate broker Coldwell Banker, also has a long history of buying and selling businesses.
After all, that is precisely what Cendant must want Orbitz to do.
Now Cendant plans to spin off the mortgage-fleet combo to shareholders.
In particular, he's convinced that real estate, from which Cendant derives 40% of its revenue, is near the top of its latest wave.
Previously, Cendant operated sites that specialised in certain areas, such as air tickets and lodgings, but on their own failed to achieve meaningful size.
Given the uncertainty, the wonder is not so much that investors have taken fright, but that they piled into Cendant in the first place.
Cendant's Super 8 budget entry knows that it, too, needs local know-how in China and figures its franchising model is the way to get it.
Last December Silverman merged HFSwith CUC International Inc. to create Cendant.
Know thy numbers FORBES dissented in 1996 when Wall Street was hymning the praises of wheeler-dealer Henry Silverman and what is now Cendant Corp. (then HFS).
Cendant's board is already talking about awarding itself a new slug of share options at the current low share price in order to retain key managers.
Since it made the leap to the workplace a few years ago, companies like Bank of America, Cendant, Adidas and Levi Strauss have climbed aboard the learning-style bandwagon.
That's been the case for Cendant over the past couple of years, as a hot housing market and growing economy have lifted its real estate and travel-related revenue.
There's evidence that Cendant is willing to shed more divisions.
Franchising, an approach central to the U.S. hotel industry and Cendant's way in China as well (see " The Bed Business"), is for another day, in Liang's view.
Among them: Cendant's Super 8, which has opened 10 franchised hotels since last June and is gearing up to have as many as 300 by the end of 2008.
There's no indication that Cendant's Silverman, who worked in private equity earlier in his career, was verbally prodded by any hedge fund managers, but he seems to have adopted their approach.
Like Expedia, Orbitz will bring together Cendant's travel firms.
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