Rent-A-Center
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| Rent-A-Center | |
 |
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| Type | Public (NASDAQ: RCII) |
|---|---|
| Founded | Plano, Texas, USA (1986) |
| Headquarters | Plano, Texas, USA |
| Key people | Mark Speese, Chairman and CEO Mitch Fadel, President and COO |
| Industry | Home furnishings rental |
| Products | Provides furniture, electronics and household appliances available for rental |
| Revenue |  2.313 Billion USD (2004) |
| Employees | 17,000 (2005) |
| Website | www.rentacenter.com |
Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ: RCII) is an American public furniture and electronics rent-to-own company that serves all 50 United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico with 3,535 stores (as of November 15, 2006.) Rent-A-Center has two wholly owned subsidiaries: ColorTyme and Rent-Way.
Rent-A-Center was listed as No. 683 on the Fortune 1000 list of the largest U.S. corporations based on a composite ranking of 2004 revenues, profits, assets market value and other measures.
[edit] History
Founded in 1986 with only 16 stores, Rent-A-Center now has operations throughout North America. In 1995, the company went public under the name of "Renters Choice." It bought 1,409 stores from Thorn Americas in 1998, the largest acquisition ever by the company.
Rent-A-Center completed its acquisition of competitor Rent-Way, Inc. on November 15, 2006, for a price of approximately $600.3 million. Rent-Way, Inc. was ranked number two in the rent-to-own industry to Rent-A-Center. It had 782 stories in 34 states at the time of the acquisition.[1] Now, Rent-A-Center owns about 50% of the rent-to-own industry.
Rent-A-Center has launched a new program called "RAC Acceptance" in Ashley Furniture homestores, it is a sort of secondary financing for furniture offered by Ashley Furniture but still adheres to typical Rent to own credit and acceptance criteria.
[edit] Controversy
In 2002, Rent-A-Center was sued for sexual bias in the hiring of women. The agreement resulted in a $47 million cash payment by Rent-A-Center and offer 10% of future vacancies over the following 15-month period to women who are claimed to be past victims of discrimination.[2]
Nationally, consumers have filed numerous lawsuits against Rent-A-Center's business practices. Typically, Rent-A-Center "rents" electronics, appliances, furniture and jewelry to customers over a two to four year period. Consumers pay installment payments and may acquire ownership of the property if they pay all installments. But payment is steep! A television that will cost a consumer $250 at a retail electronics outlet may cost $800 at Rent-A-Center. Because Rent-A-Center styles its business as "rentals" rather than "sales," it does not disclose the interest rates hidden in its transactions. These rates may exceed 200% annually.
[edit] Other names
Rent-A-Center is known in 21 stores in Wisconsin as Get It Now!, due to restrictions against the rent-to-own industry in that state which went into effect in 2002.[3] Without the restrictions passed by the Wisconsin State Legislature, Rent-A-Center stated that over 150 stores could have opened in the state.[4]
The six stores in Alberta, Canada are known as Rent-A-Centre.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ "Rent-A-Center completes Rent-Way purchase", Dallas Business Journal, 2006-11-15.
- ^ EEOC Announces $47 Million Agreement in Principle to Settle Claims of Class-Wide Sex Bias Against Rent-A-Center. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
- ^ Walters, Steven. "Doyle defends OK on rent bill", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2004-03-08.
- ^ Walters, Steven. "Assembly rejects rent-to-own legislation", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2004-03-11.
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