Hilton Hotels Corporation

History

The original company was founded in 1919 by Conrad Hilton.

The Hotels Statler Company was acquired in 1954 for $111,000,000 in what was then the world's largest real estate transaction.

The company separated its international operations into a separate traded company on December 1, 1964, known as Hilton International Co.. In 1967 Trans World Corp., the holding company for Trans World Airlines, acquired the separated company. In 1986 it was sold to UAL Corp., the holding company for United Airlines, who became Allegis Corp. in an attempt to re-incarnate itself as a full service travel company encompassing Westin Hotels and Hertz rental cars in addition to Hilton International and United Airlines. In 1987 after a corporate putsch, the renamed UAL Corp. sold Hilton International to Ladbroke Group plc, a British leisure and gambling company, which in May 1999 adopted the name Hilton Group plc.

As a result, there have been two separate, fully independent companies operating hotels under the Hilton name. Those Hilton Hotels outside the US were, until recently, styled as Hilton International hotels. In addition, for many years hotels run by the Hilton Group in the US were called Vista International Hotels, while hotels operated by the American arm of Hilton outside the US were named Conrad Hotels. The Vista chain has been phased out, while Conrad is now restyled as one of the luxury brands of Hilton (along with The Waldorf-Astoria Collection) and operates hotels within the US, as well as abroad. To minimize consumer confusion, the American and British Hilton companies, for the last few years, had a joint marketing agreement under which they share the same logos, promote each other's brands and maintained joint reservation systems.

In 1971, Hilton acquired International Leisure Company, acquiring the Las Vegas Hilton and Flamingo Hilton with the purchase.[3]

HHC was granted the naming rights to the George R. Brown Convention Center in late 2003. The Hilton Americas in Downtown Houston, Texas, is connected to the convention center.

On December 29, 2005, Hilton Hotels Corporation agreed to re-acquire Hilton International along with its Conrad Hotels, Scandic Hotels and LivingWell Health Clubs affiliates from British-based Hilton Group plc for GBP 3.3 billion (or $5.71 billion) bringing the two groups back together. Hilton Group then re-assumed the name Ladbroke Group plc. On February 23, 2006, the deal closed, making Hilton Hotels the world's fifth largest hotel operator in number of rooms [4].

The Waldorf-Astoria Collection was announced on January 17, 2005 as a new Luxury Brand.

On March 1, 2007, Scandic Hotels was sold to EQT V Group.[5]

On July 3, 2007, Hilton Hotels Corp (NYSE: HLT), agreed to an all-cash buyout from The Blackstone Group LP in a $20.1 billion deal that would make Blackstone the world's largest hotel owner. The private equity group said it would combine cash from its real estate and corporate private equity funds to buy all outstanding Hilton shares for $47.50 each, a 32 percent premium over the July 3 closing stock price. The companies valued the deal at $26 billion including debt.

In October 2007, Christopher J. Nassetta is appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer of Hilton.[6]