DISTRESSED DAILY: Hertz Share Sale a Long Way From $1 Billion

The original headline number for the improbable Hertz Global Holdings Inc. stock sale was an impressive-sounding $1 billion. The fine print lets some air out of the tires.

Hertz asked permission from its bankruptcy judge last week to conduct the offering based on the $5.53 closing price for June 8. That was after the stock’s remarkable (some might say irrational) rally from 56 cents, amid the mania for equity of bankrupt companies. Hertz envisioned selling up to 246,775,008 shares in its court filing, which rounded down the potential haul to $1 billion.

Alas, by the time the idea moved from ...