Kinney National Company
| Industry | Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Kinney Parking Company National Cleaning Contractors, Inc. |
| Founded | August 12, 1966 |
| Founder | Steve Ross |
| Defunct | February 10, 1972 |
| Fate | Corporate spin-off; reincorporated as Warner Communications, Inc. |
| Successors | Warner Communications National Kinney Corporation |
| Headquarters | New York City , |
| Products | Parking services Cleaning services Film Television Music Magazine |
| Divisions |
|
Kinney National Services, Inc. (sometimes, Kinney Services, Inc.) was an American conglomerate company from 1966 to 1972. Its successors were National Kinney Corporation and Warner Communications.
History
It was formed on August 12, 1966[1] as Kinney National Company, when the Kinney Parking Company and the National Cleaning Contractors, Inc. (founded in 1886 by Louis Frankel) were merged[2]. The new company was headed by Steve Ross.[3]
In 1967, Kinney National expanded by acquiring National Periodical Publications (more commonly, but not yet officially, called DC Comics), E. C. Publications, Hollywood talent agency Ashley-Famous, and Panavision. Ted Ashley (from Ashley-Famous) suggested to Ross that he buy out the cash-strapped film company Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, which had purchased Atlantic Records that same year.[4]
On October 8, 1968, Kinney National sold Kinney System Rent-A-Car to Sandgate Corporation for about $11-million in cash and notes[5].
When the acquisition of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was completed in 1969, Ashley-Famous was sold because of antitrust laws prohibiting a company from owning both a production studio and a talent agency. Ted Ashley was put in charge of the film studio. Beginning with the unexpected success of the concert documentary Woodstock (1970), the company started scoring box office hits again, reestablishing Warner Bros. as a major studio and creating the original Warner Cable Pictures, which was renamed Dimension Pictures in 1971.
In 1970, Kinney National bought Jac Holzman's Elektra Records and Nonesuch Records.
On June 10, 1971, Kinney sold Riverside Memorial Chapel to Service Corporation International. Kinney also announced that it would form a new separate company, which it will focus on parking and cleaning business, and that it happened, when Kinney created National Kinney Corporation in September of the same year[6].
On November 22, 1971, Kinney Services also bought Television Communications Corporation, including its recording studio operations of 1,210,500 common shares.[7][8]
Kinney National also owned wood flooring manufacturer Circle Floor from Seymour Milstein and Paul Milstein, when Kinney's predecessor bought it in 1964 for $15 million, with the Milsteins remaining as managers of the unit until 1971 before sale.[9]
Financial scandal
Due to a financial scandal involving price fixing in its parking operations,[3] Kinney National spun off its non-entertainment assets in September 1971 as the National Kinney Corporation, and renamed the remaining Kinney National Company as Warner Communications Inc. on February 10, 1972[10].
Steve Ross was the company's sole CEO, president, and chairman. Directors included Charles A. Agemian, the CEO of Garden State National Bank.
References
- ^ The merge of Kinney Service & National Cleaning
- ^ KINNEY SERVICE PLANS EXPANSION; Proposing a Merger With National Cleaning
- ^ a b Connie Bruck (2013). Master of the Game: Steve Ross and the Creation of Time Warner. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781476737706. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
- ^ The Emergence of Cinema
- ^ Sandgate in Kinney Deal
- ^ SOUTHWEST IN BID FOR RIEGEL PAPER June 10, 1971
- ^ COLGATE IN OFFER FOR KENDALL CO. October 13, 1971
- ^ Kinney‐TVC Terms Shift November 23, 1971
- ^ New York Times: "Milstein Opens Throttle as Builder" October 18, 1981
- ^ Kinney Changes Name
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- Conglomerate companies of the United States
- Defunct mass media companies of the United States
- American companies established in 1966
- Mass media companies established in 1966
- Mass media companies disestablished in 1972
- Corporate scandals
- Conglomerate companies established in 1966
- Conglomerate companies disestablished in 1972
- Companies formed by merger
- United States mass media company stubs