In a sweeping reversal of its strategy, the Allegis Corporation announced last night that it had replaced its chairman and intended to sell the company's rental car and hotel subsidiaries.
After a special board meeting in New York, the company said Richard J. Ferris had resigned as chairman and president of the diversified company, which owns United Airlines. The development represented a dramatic rejection of Mr. Ferris's plan to build Allegis, formerly UAL Inc., into a company that would serve all the needs of travelers.
In a statement, the board indicated that United Airlines, the one unit it plans to retain after selling its Hertz rental car operation and Westin and Hilton International hotels, could end up under the control of the carrier's employees.
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But for the 50-year-old Mr. Ferris, who became chairman of United in 1978 and of the holding company in 1982, yesterday's events were the shattering of a dream that he had pursued for over a decade, notably with the acquisition of Hertz in 1985 and Hilton International this year. He wanted to build a company where a traveler could fly, rent a car and get a hotel room, all under one corporate roof.
While the concept sounded good in theory, in practice it failed to produce the profits and the large savings that Mr. Ferris hoped to realize.
https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/10/b...nd-hotels.html