By Mark Clothier

May 9 (Bloomberg) — Hertz Global Holdings Inc., the largest publicly traded rental-car company, offered to buy Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. for $2.24 billion in cash and stock, topping a bid by Avis Budget Group Inc.

Hertz offered $72 a share, 24 percent more than Avis’s offer, the Park Ridge, New Jersey-based company said today in a statement. Dollar Thrifty rose $9.58, or 14 percent, to $79.27 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the biggest jump since May 3, 2010, when Avis proposed making a counter bid to Hertz’s original offer.

Full story thanks to Bloomberg Business Week

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