It was formed on August 12, 1966 as Kinney National Company, when the Kinney Parking Company and the National Cleaning Contractors, Inc. were merged. The new company was headed by Steve Ross. In 1967, Kinney National expanded by acquiring National Periodical Publications, E. C. Publications, Hollywood talent agency Ashley-Famous, and Panavision. Ted Ashley suggested to Ross that he buy out the cash-strapped film company Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, which had purchased Atlantic Records that same year. On October 8, 1968, Kinney National sold Kinney System Rent-A-Car to Sandgate Corporation for about $11-million in cash and notes. When the acquisition of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was completed in 1969, Ashley-Famous was sold because of antitrust laws prohibiting a company from owning both a production studio and a talent agency. Ted Ashley was put in charge of the film studio. Beginning with the unexpected success of the concert documentary Woodstock, the company started scoring box office hits again, reestablishing Warner Bros. as a major studio and creating the original Warner Cable Pictures, which was renamed Dimension Pictures in 1971. In 1970, Kinney National bought Jac Holzman's Elektra Records and Nonesuch Records. In 1971, Riverside Memorial Chapel's parent company Kinney Service Corporation was purchased by Service Corporation International. On November 22 of the same year, Kinney Services also bought Television Communications Corporation, including its recording studio operations of 1,210,500 common shares. Kinney National also owned wood flooring manufacturer Circle Floor from Seymour Milstein and Paul Milstein, when Kinney's predecessor bought it in 1964 for $15 million, with the Milsteins remaining as managers of the unit until 1971 before sale.
Financial scandal
Due to a financial scandal involving price fixing in its parking operations, Kinney National spun off its non-entertainment assets in September 1971 as the National Kinney Corporation, and renamed the remaining Kinney National Company as Warner Communications Inc. on February 10, 1972. Steve Ross was the company's sole CEO, president, and chairman. Directors included Charles A. Agemian, the CEO of Garden State National Bank.
