July 6, 2015 — Two intriguing investments in recent weeks show that CDK Global and Cox Automotive are looking hard at the growing telematics and connected vehicle space — a sector that many analysts believe will explode in the next year or so. First, Cox Automotive in early June participated in a $6.5 million Series… Continue Reading
July 2, 2015 — In this report The Banks Report analyzes the financials of Cox’s pending acquisition of Dealertrack; why the deal makes sense; and its effect on the industry and other companies. Background Cox Automotive’s pending acquisition of Dealertrack is big on several levels. Not only is the $4 billion deal the biggest acquisition financially… Continue Reading
June 29, 2015 — Over the next several months, we believe the automotive industry will see a more aggressive Cars.com at play in the acquisitions market as its parent company, the newly minted Tegna begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TGNA this morning. Gannett Co., the giant newspaper publishing and…
June 15, 2015 — The big announcement finally happened — Cox Automotive is buying DealerTrack for $4 billion — approximately $63 a share — up from the $39 a share DealerTrack was trading at on Friday. We’ll have our analysis in the next day or so. But this is the biggest deal in the vendor… Continue Reading
June 7, 2015 — There have been 13 automotive retail vendor acquisitions through the first week of June far outpacing 2014’s total of 19 transactions. The difference this year is that the transactions are much smaller. While last year’s acquisitions, mergers and IPOs involved more than $30 billion in equity in changing hands, according to…
May 28, 2015 — The acquisitions in the automotive retail space keep coming. The latest is J.D. Power and Associates’ acquisition of NADA Used Car Guides, announced minutes ago. It’s a move that will shake up the used vehicle pricing guides space, which includes Hearst Corporation’s Black Book and Kelley Blue Book, which is owned by…
May 22, 2015 — Yesterday, Autobytel announced the acquisition of competitor Dealix for $25 million from CDK Global, confirming a prediction The Banks Report made in February. We have the inside story and a full analysis of the deal and what it means for the industry and Autobytel’s future. Meanwhile, numbers show the leads business may…
April 27, 2015 — So far this year, there have been nine (updated from eight) acquisitions in the automotive retail vendor space, the latest deal being completed today by Reynolds and Reynolds. Today’s deal comes on the heels of last week’s announcement that Solera Holdings had acquired DME Automotive. Meanwhile, we know of at least another three deals…
April 27, 2015 — Solera Holdings announced last week it has acquired marketing firm DME Automotive. It’s the latest in a series a acquisitions and investments in the service and repair space for the industry. It’s a market that has been heating up since Solera jumped into it in late 2013 with an investment/acquisition of AutoPoint…
April 25, 2015 — This week, Gannett Co. announced the new name of the digital and broadcast company that will be created as part of the split with its newspaper business. The split should be completed sometime in the late second quarter or third quarter of this year. Meanwhile, the move likely will position Cars.com as a significant…
