Avis Budget Group announced the acquisition of Payless Car Rental,

"the sixth-largest car rental company in North America." Avis Budget indicated it paid $50 million for privately held Payless—part of the industry's "deep-value segment"—and its 120 airport locations in the United States, Canada, Europe and South America. According to a statement from Avis Budget CEO Ron Nelson, "Payless expands our global footprint, enables us to support Budget's mid-tier brand positioning and gives us greater flexibility to capitalize on opportunities in an additional segment of the car rental market in order to help accelerate our growth." Avis Budget added that it "intends to operate Payless as a separate brand from a customer perspective."