Avis, the car rental company has made another acquisition, this time it is the car sharing network Zipcar, in a deal which is reported to be worth $500 million, and the purchase, according to Avis is at a 50 percent premium over the closing price of Zipcar in December.

Zipcar was founded back in 2000, and has around 767,000 members and 11,000 vehicles throughout the US and Canada, the UK, Spain and Austria, obviously Avis will be looking to expand the service to more countries.

"By combining with Zipcar, we will significantly increase our growth potential, both in the United States and internationally, and will position our Company to better serve a greater variety of consumer and commercial transportation needs.

We see car sharing as highly complementary to traditional car rental, with rapid growth potential and representing a scalable opportunity for us as a combined company.”