Dealertrack Technologies, a company that began as an online credit-application network, has completed its acquisition of Dealer.com, a provider of digital marketing services to the auto industry, particularly dealers.
Under terms of the agreement, Dealertrack acquires all Dealer.com equity for about 8.7 million shares of Dealertrack’s common stock and $620 million in cash.
In joining forces, the companies say they expect to realize a shared vision to transform the auto-retail industry.
“We will be able to provide dealers, OEMs and other industry partners with a deep and broad array of integrated solutions,” Dealertrack Chairman and CEO Mark O’Neil says in a statement.
He adds: “Dealer.com and its team, whom we’ve long admired and respected, complement our solutions, catapulting our vision of delivering the market-leading suite of integrated technologies capable of transforming automotive retailing even further.”
Rick Gibbs, Dealer.com’s former CEO and one of its co-founders, will lead a newly formed Digital Marketing Solutions team based in Dealer.com’s Burlington, VT, headquarters. He speaks of bringing auto retailing “to a new level of efficiency and performance.”
Dealertrack retains the Dealer.com name for use in the marketplace.
Established in 1998, Dealer.com began as a designer of dealership websites.
The company has grown to 830 employees and serves about 7,000 dealers with its product lineup. Its 2013 annual revenue was about $230 million, 25% more than 2012.
Dealertrack started 13 years ago, and through several acquisitions has positioned itself as an end-to-end technology provider.
