- May 1, 2005
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- Jeff
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AutoTrader.com buys vAuto - rumor says
- Thread starter Jeff Kershner
- Start date
I spoke with my contact at vAuto directly, on the condition of anonymity, and they simply said that this isn't the case.
I haven't heard anything from the horse's mouth yet, but there are quite a few people in positions to know this sort of thing saying it is true.
True or not, I'm very curious to hear what the dealer body has to say.
True or not, I'm very curious to hear what the dealer body has to say.
Have not heard back as to whether or not this is true. As a happy vAuto partner and Autotrader customer.......I hope it's just rumor.
If vAuto is for sale, my suitor's prediction is below.
I have been blessed over the years to have some intense and exciting discussions with Dale. We have had many a chat about what vAuto does and what it COULD do. I felt that on top of what vAuto does already, its just a few steps from becoming an engine to power all sorts of internet marketing opportunities.
Back in the day, I would lobby to Dale that we all know vAuto deeply analyzes classified site traffic, but with a little creativity and some vAuto capital they could expand the vAuto scope greatly.
One idea was to expand the platform to where vAuto could build an Internet Command Center where all the internet stats from ALL internet points all come together. I mentiioned it would be easy to grab stats from a dealers site via an Embed of a snippet of code. It would open a door into the vAUto platform for a FULL analysis. This "window" into vAuto would allow me to ask questions like:
Is my inventory balanced?
vAuto could tell me the VDP traffic of SUV's for my home site is 26% of all VDPs, BUT, your SUV inventory is only 11% of your inventory.
vAuto could tell me that 60% of the VDP traffic of SUV's for my home site is between 10,000 and 16,000, yet only 3% of my inventory matches this profile.
Not good.
AutoTrader.com is not an ideal match, no, IMO the perfect would be a digital marketing player that has a large portfolio of digital marketing offerings and vAuto would fit nicely in that portfolio.
Not only would the suitor acquire several thousand dealers (with a butt load of new sales opportunities) but the vAuto platform expansion opportunities are off the charts.
IMO, there is only ONE high energy match to vAuto with the cash, the resources and the VIBE to match vAuto.
That would be Dealer.com.
Add vAuto into the Dealer.com portfolio and now you've got SYNERGY.
...game...set...match.
I have been blessed over the years to have some intense and exciting discussions with Dale. We have had many a chat about what vAuto does and what it COULD do. I felt that on top of what vAuto does already, its just a few steps from becoming an engine to power all sorts of internet marketing opportunities.
Back in the day, I would lobby to Dale that we all know vAuto deeply analyzes classified site traffic, but with a little creativity and some vAuto capital they could expand the vAuto scope greatly.
One idea was to expand the platform to where vAuto could build an Internet Command Center where all the internet stats from ALL internet points all come together. I mentiioned it would be easy to grab stats from a dealers site via an Embed of a snippet of code. It would open a door into the vAUto platform for a FULL analysis. This "window" into vAuto would allow me to ask questions like:
Is my inventory balanced?
vAuto could tell me the VDP traffic of SUV's for my home site is 26% of all VDPs, BUT, your SUV inventory is only 11% of your inventory.
vAuto could tell me that 60% of the VDP traffic of SUV's for my home site is between 10,000 and 16,000, yet only 3% of my inventory matches this profile.
Not good.
AutoTrader.com is not an ideal match, no, IMO the perfect would be a digital marketing player that has a large portfolio of digital marketing offerings and vAuto would fit nicely in that portfolio.
Not only would the suitor acquire several thousand dealers (with a butt load of new sales opportunities) but the vAuto platform expansion opportunities are off the charts.
IMO, there is only ONE high energy match to vAuto with the cash, the resources and the VIBE to match vAuto.
That would be Dealer.com.
Add vAuto into the Dealer.com portfolio and now you've got SYNERGY.
...game...set...match.
Joe,
As someone who's been following your predictions for a while.....I'd love for this one to come true. Couldn't ask for a greater partnership IMO.
As someone who's been following your predictions for a while.....I'd love for this one to come true. Couldn't ask for a greater partnership IMO.
- Apr 7, 2009
- 180
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- Brian
V-auto has always said they wouldn't use the data for retail customer research and so on but I haven't heard the same thing from autotrader.com??? I hope this doesn't have anything to do with the acquisition....
BT,
You can bet that AT and Cars.com has a butt load of data that they KEEP from the retail side of the biz... They don't need aVuto for that.
You can bet that AT and Cars.com has a butt load of data that they KEEP from the retail side of the biz... They don't need aVuto for that.
If this is true then Auto Trader will completely eff up vAuto! AT has been a joke for years and have messed over dealers with the crap they dole out. They have been eaten alive on this site forever. I hope and expect that Pollock is smarter then to sell his jewel to a black hole company like AT. It would be a total sell out if he does and a damn dirty shame! vAuto is one of the only dealer tools out there that is credible. AT buying vAuto is like a super model getting mated with Frankenstein!
Kelley Blue Book for sale, sources say
...Kelley Blue Book, the family-owned automotive information provider, has hired a bank for a sale, two bankers claiming knowledge of the situation told mergermarket.
JP Morgan was retained within the past few weeks for the sale process, one of the bankers said.
A spokesperson for the Irvine, California-based company declined comment. Kelley Blue Book was founded by Les Kelley in 1926 and its online arm, kbb.com, was launched in 1995.
The second banker said Kelley Blue Book is likely to be valued between USD 500m and USD 1bn.
AutoTrader.com, which recently sold a 25% stake to Providence Equity Partners, is said to be the lead bidder, the first banker said, adding that both financial and strategic suitors are involved in the process. He mentioned KKR as a likely bidder. EBay and Googlealso would be logical bidders for this asset, he said.
...Kelley Blue Book, the family-owned automotive information provider, has hired a bank for a sale, two bankers claiming knowledge of the situation told mergermarket.
JP Morgan was retained within the past few weeks for the sale process, one of the bankers said.
A spokesperson for the Irvine, California-based company declined comment. Kelley Blue Book was founded by Les Kelley in 1926 and its online arm, kbb.com, was launched in 1995.
The second banker said Kelley Blue Book is likely to be valued between USD 500m and USD 1bn.
AutoTrader.com, which recently sold a 25% stake to Providence Equity Partners, is said to be the lead bidder, the first banker said, adding that both financial and strategic suitors are involved in the process. He mentioned KKR as a likely bidder. EBay and Googlealso would be logical bidders for this asset, he said.
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