Kinney National Company

Kinney Services Inc.

Formerly	Kinney Service Corporation (1962–1966) Kinney National Service Inc. (1966–1971) Kinney Services Inc. (1971–1972)
Company type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: KSR (1962-1966) NYSE: KNS (1966-1972)
Industry	Mass media Service industries (parking services, cleaning services)
Predecessor	Kinney Parking System (1945–1961) National Cleaning Contractors Inc. (1886 –1966)
Founded	December 26, 1961 (1961-12-26) (as Kinney Service Co.) August 12, 1966 (1966-08-12) (as Kinney National Service)
Founder	Steve Ross William V. Frankel
Defunct	August 12, 1966 (1966-08-12) (merger with National Cleaning) February 10, 1972 (1972-02-10) (renamed to Warner Communications)
Fate	Merger and incorporation as Kinney National Service Inc.; reincorporation as Warner Communications Inc. in 1972
Successor	Warner Communications
Headquarters	10 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City, New York , United States
Key people	Steve Ross (CEO and President) William V Frankel (Chairman) Edward Rosenthal (Vice Chairman) Caesar Kimmel (Vice-President)
Divisions	Warner Bros. Inc. National Periodical Publications Panavision Inc. Kinney Record Group International Television Communications Corporation
Subsidiaries	National Kinney Corporation (50% ownership) Hackensack Trust Company (99% ownership)

Kinney Services Inc., (formerly known as Kinney National Service, Inc.) was an American media conglomerate located in New York City. Originally established as Kinney Service Corporation, it served as the parent company for service-related businesses including funeral homes, parking facilities, and maintenance firms. Kinney became a publicly traded company in 1962 and bought several dozen service companies. Following its merger with National Cleaning Contractors ^[1](founded 1886), Kinney National pivoted towards entertainment through many high-profile media acquisitions, most notably Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. ^[2] By the early 1970s, Kinney Services' non-media assets were spun off to National Kinney Corporation (a separate company) and it reincorporated as Warner Communications Inc.

Riverside Memorial Chapel is a funeral chain founded in 1897 as Meyer's Livery Stable by Louis Meyer and his son-in-law, Charles Rosenthal. The company moved operations around Manhattan, starting in the Lower East Side, then moving to East Harlem and settling in the Upper West Side in 1927, where the main Riverside Chapel was built. In 1933, Meyer's & Company separated into Riverside Memorial Chapel, Inc. and Park West Memorial Chapel. ^[3] Charles Rosenthal continued as a funeral director at Riverside Chapel, while his sons, Edward and Morton Rosenthal, assumed management of the company. ^[4] The brothers grew the business by acquiring multiple funeral companies and establishing sister Riverside Chapel locations in New York and Florida,^[5] leading Riverside Memorial Inc. to become the United States' largest funeral service group in the 1950s.

Kinney Parking System (later renamed Kinney System Inc.) was once the largest parking company in the Northeastern United States, ^[6] having managed its business through parking lots and garages. While not much is known about the company's origins, Connie Bruck's 1995 biography, Steve Ross and the Creation of Time Warner, provides details about Kinney Parking's early history along with its founder. It was incorporated in 1945 as a New Jersey corporation by Manny Kimmel. In 1948, Kinney Parking was granted leases to two of Newark's biggest parking lots. Despite keeping a relatively low profile, Kimmel was known to have engaged in racketeering during the Prohibition era along with mafia figures such as Roy Dornbusch and Abner Zwillman. While Kimmel never faced prosecution, the FBI kept information on him until the 1960s and Kimmel reportedly testified at one of Abner Zwillman's court trials. Kimmel's oldest son, Caesar Kimmel, served as Kinney Parking System's President and majority owner.

Steve Ross was born on April 5, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York City. After serving in the U.S. Military, Steve return home to Brooklyn and worked as a clothing salesman until the mid 1950s. He met Carol Rosenthal in 1953 and the two married in 1954, leading Steve to become a member of the wealthy Rosenthal Family. Feeling dissatisfied with his work as a clothing salesman by 1956, Steve accepted an offer from Edward Rosenthal (Edward being the to become a funeral director at the main Riverside Chapel on the Upper West Side. Despite having no prior experience in the deathcare industry and early struggles in his new job, Steve grew accustomed to his position as a funeral director.

Noticing that Riverside's limousines sat unused during nighttime, Steve suggested renting them out to generate additional income. This idea led Steve, Edward Rosenthal, and several close associates to form a separate car rental business in 1958 known as Abbey Rent-A-Car. The rental firm's business operations were not successful and by 1959, Edward suggested closing down the business. In 1960, Steve and Edward met with Caesar Kimmel, the President and majority owner of Kinney Parking System (the then-largest parking operator in New York City), and the three struck a deal for Abbey Rent-A-Car. The company was rebranded as Kinney Rent-A-Car and drivers renting vehicles from it were allowed free parking at Kinney System parking locations. In exchange, Kinney Parking System Inc. received a 25% ownership stake in the company.

Despite the efforts by Caesar Kimmel's Kinney Parking System, the Kinney Rent-A-Car business remained unsuccessful and caused extensive financial losses for Kinney Parking. Caesar, Steve Ross, and Edward Rosenthal concluded that the parking and rental companies would better preform as one publicly traded company, leading to a merger between Kinney Parking and Kinney Renting. This merger transaction was later changed to a four-way merger after Edward brought in his family business, Riverside Memorial Chapel Inc., and City Service Cleaning Contractors, Inc. (a cleaning business managed by his distant relatives). The merger lasted for several months and was completed on December 26, 1961, and the new company was called Kinney Service Corporation. Steve Ross was appointed its President, Edward Rosenthal was its first chairman, and Caesar Kimmel was its vice-president and the company's largest shareholder. ^[7]

In February 1962, Kinney Service Corporation was preparing to go public on the American Stock Exchange. The company reported revenues exceeding $17 Million and Its holdings included Kinney System Inc. (previously known as Kinney Parking System), Riverside Memorial Chapel Inc., Kinney Rent-A-Car Inc., and City Service Cleaning Contractors. ^[8] Kinney Services went public in April 1962, under the ticker symbol of (KSR) and in November 1962, it chose 10 Rockefeller Plaza as its corporate headquarters. In the same year, Kinney Services purchased two car rental companies in Long Island.

Kinney Services bought two printing companies and expanded its holdings in the cleaning industry in 1963 by acquiring Terminal Cleaning Contractors, Inc. In 1964, Kinney Services acquired Walter B Cook, Inc (A funeral chain with eight locations in New York) for $70 Million. ^[9] Kinney Services merged with National Cleaning Contractors, Inc in 1966 for a $25 million deal. Following the merger, executives from National Cleaning joined Kinney Services and the combined company, Kinney National Service Inc., began trading under the ticker symbol of (KNS) on the New York Stock Exchange. ^[10]

Kinney Service Corporation took its new name on August 12, 1966,^[11] as Kinney National Service, Inc., after completing its merger with National Cleaning Contractors Inc., one of New York's oldest cleaning window companies, formed in 1886. William V. Frankel joined Kinney as its Chairman, while Edward stepped down to become Vice-Chairman.

Kinney National Service (National was removed from the company name in February 1971^[12]) engaged in a string of high-profile media acquisitions along with a multitude of service-related acquisitions:

• In 1967, Kinney National acquired Star Circle Wall Systems, Inc., and Hudson Painting and Decorating
• In the same year, Kinney also acquired Circle Floor Co., Inc. (managed by Paul Milstein and Seymour Milstein). The Milsteins would join Kinney as executives. ^[13] Kinney acquired multiple service companies in 1967. These included Schatz Painting Company, Circle Acoustics Corporation, the Star Carpentry Companies, and Wachtel Plumbing Company.

• On July 21, 1967, Kinney National expanded by acquiring National Periodical Publications (predecessor to DC Comics) which owned the Mad magazine of E. C. Publications, Inc. The acquisition was completed on August 25 of the same year for $30 Million
• On November 13, 1967, Kinney National bought Hollywood talent agency Ashley-Famous for $12 Million.^[14] Ted Ashley (the founder of 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 month.^[15]
• In February 1968, Kinney acquired Panavision, Inc.
• In Late 1968, Kinney National acquired Hackensack Trust Company for $23 Million ^[16]
• On January 28, 1969, it was announced that Kinney National would acquire Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Ltd.^[17] The acquisition was completed on July 4, 1969, for a $400 Million deal.^[18] On April 20, Ashley-Famous was sold because of existing antitrust laws prohibiting a company from owning both a production studio and a talent agency. In August, Ted Ashley became chief of the film company.^[19] On December 16, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Inc. was rebranded as Warner Bros. Inc.^[20] Beginning with the unexpected success of the concert documentary Woodstock (1970), Warner Bros. started scoring box office hits again and became a major studio.
• Kinney National acquired 99% of Hackensack Trust Back between January and February 1969. Following this acquisition, Charles A. Agemian was elected a Director of Kinney National (a position he retained with Warner Communications) ^[21]
• In 1970, Kinney National bought Jac Holzman's Elektra Records and Nonesuch Records. In the same year, Kinney National signed a lease to the 75 Rockefeller Plaza (known as the Esso Building during development). Kinney moved to the building in 1973 after it became Warner Communications.
• The Kinney Parking System acquired Katz Parking and its President, Daniel Katz, became CEO of Kinney Parking. Kimmel would monitor the business until he left for Warner Communications, with Kinney System being left in complete control by Daniel until his sudden death in 1986. Lewis Katz succeeded Daniel as President.
• In February 1971, Kinney National changed its name to Kinney Services Inc.
• In June 1971, Kinney Services sold all its funeral businesses to Service Corporation International for $30 Million

• On November 22, 1971, Kinney Services also bought Television Communications Corporation (which was renamed as Warner Cable in 1973), including its recording studio operations of 1,210,500 common shares. Warner Cable would go on to become Time Warner Cable and was later acquired by Charter Communications and rebranded as Spectrum.^[22][23]

Kinney Services announced plans in June 1971 to separate into two distinct companies: one focused on media and entertainment, and the other towards the service industry. On August 7, 1971, Kinney Services' non-entertainment assets (with exception to Hackensack Bank) were spun off as a separate company named National Kinney Corporation. On December 13, 1971, Kinney Services' directors suggested renaming the company after Warner Bros. ^[24] Kinney Services would reincorporate as Warner Communications Inc. on February 10, 1972, ^[25] and traded on the New York Stock Exchange as WCI. Steve Ross was WCI's sole CEO, President, and Chairman. William V. Frankel previously held the position of Chairman until his death on July 1, 1972. ^[26] Morton Rosenthal, Caesar Kimmel, Edward Rosenthal, and Charles A. Agemian each retired from Warner Communications between 1976 to 1984. ^[27][28] Warner Communications enjoyed stability ^[29] until its decline with Atari and fended off a merger attempt by News Corporation. In 1990, Warner and Time Inc. merged to form Time Warner (now Warner Bros. Discovery). Steve passed away in December 21, 1992, ^[30] and was succeeded by Gerald Levin.

In its early years of business, Kinney Services treated Kinney Rent-A-Car as its flagship division or "crown jewel", but the rental division began to lag behind its sister divisions and was eventually sold to Sandgate Corporation for $11 Million on October 1, 1968. It's likely Kinney also sold its two Long Island car leasing firms, to Sandgate as well. ^[31]

• Kinney Rent-A-Car (officially Kinney System Rent-A-Car)

Kinney Services sold its funeral companies to SCI for $30 million in June 1971, officially ending its involvement in the deathcare industry. Edward and Morton Rosenthal remained as executives at Kinney (renamed Warner Communications), marking the end of the Riverside being a family business.^[32] The funeral homes sold included:

• Riverside Memorial Chapel, Inc (Currently operates 8 Riverside Chapels in New York and Florida, down from a peak of 10 in 1962) ^[33]
• Frank E Campbell (Acquired by Riverside in 1948) ^[34]
• Universal Funeral Chapel, Inc. (Acquired by Riverside in 1955)
• Walter B Cook Inc
• Echearria Sons Corporation

After the acquisition of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Kinney National divested Ashely-Famous as Anti-Trust laws at the time prohibited a company from owning both a film studio and a talent agency.

• Ashley-Famous was sold on April 20, 1969, to Marvin Josephson. Its founder, Ted Ashley, stayed with Kinney National and served as the chairman of Warner Bros. from 1969-1980. It was Ashley who personally suggested to Steve Ross that Kinney acquire Warner Bros. Ashely-Famous was renamed International Famous Agency (IFA) and became the first publicly traded talent agency. ^[35]

In September 1971, Kinney Services, which had already begun offloading its non-media divisions, separated all its service businesses to National Kinney Corporation (with exception to Hackensack Trust Company ^[36]). Only Caesar Kimmel, Edward Rosenthal, Morton Rosenthal, and William V. Frankel remained with Kinney Services while every other executive stemming from Kinney's service sector joined National Kinney. The businesses spun off included:

• Kinney System Inc
• Cleaning Companies
  • National Cleaning Contractors, Inc.
  • Terminal Cleaning Contractors, Inc.
  • City Service Cleaning Contractors
• Circle Floor Co., Inc.
• Star Centry Corporation
• Star Circle Wall Systems, Inc

• Bruck, Connie (April 1, 1995). Master of the Game: Steve Ross and the Creation of Time Warner (1st ed.). PENGUIN PUTNAM. ISBN 9780140244540.