NEW YORK — Shareholders approved the final stage of Cendant Corp.'s reorganization plan Tuesday, backing the name change to Avis Budget Group Inc., among other housekeeping efforts.
But while shareholders helped Cendant close the book on a monthslong effort to break into four units, tensions over past failures heated the otherwise routine East Hanover, N.J., meeting.
As much as 40 percent of votes cast for one of Cendant's six board members were "no" votes. It's uncommon for more than 10 percent of director votes to be "no" votes. Which director or directors were approved to the board with just 60 percent of the "yes" votes is still unclear.
The New York-based company didn't immediately return a request for more information.
Cendant recently sold its travel services division to the Blackstone private-equity group, and spun off its real estate services and hotel divisions to shareholders. The remaining part is the Avis and Budget rental-car business.
Cendant plans to change its name by Friday and to trade its stock under ticker symbol "CAR." A reverse stock split will push the stock price up, from about $2 a share, to roughly $20 a share.
All of these efforts were approved by 82 percent of stockholders.
During the question and answer period, at the end of the meeting, some shareholders stood up to complain about the company's sagging stock price as well as compensation paid to executives.
Of particular focus was Cendant's long-time CEO Henry R. Silverman, who earned $140 million in 2005, largely due to the exercise of stock options, and another $62.7 million in July as a result of the company's split.
Silverman, who is now CEO of the company's real-estate unit Realogy Corp., wasn't present at the meeting Tuesday, another point of contention for some shareholders.
"All the officers and directors keep getting large salaries, increased bonuses and fringe benefits. Why is that when the common stockholder has nothing?" asked one meeting attendee.
"When our stock goes down, it pains us as much as it pains you," responded Cendant's new chief executive, Ronald L. Nelson.