CarMax Acquires Edmunds in $400 Million Deal
Yesterday, used-car giant CarMax announced it finalized a deal to acquire automotive consumer advice site Edmunds, in a deal worth just over $400 million.
CarMax promises it’s magnanimous, and that Edmunds and its advice will operate independently of CarMax and its sales.
CarMax first showed interest in Edmunds in January of 2020, when it handed over $50 million to acquire a minority ownership stake. Once the check cleared, CarMax and Edmunds worked jointly on a number of new projects, which included the successful instant offer tool on Edmunds. That’s the button sellers use to sell their car to CarMax for Cash Right Now. CarMax credits that instant offer button with placing CarMax in place to become the largest online buyer of used cars from consumers.
They’re so pleased with collaborations thus far that CarMax is shelling out the remaining $354 million to purchase the 50-year-old Edmunds. The purchase will take place via stock buyout and cash. CarMax says they’re excited to invest in Edmunds’ growth and look forward to delivering the highest quality online experience possible. Edmunds says CarMax is a great business partner, and the company looks to provide continual innovation, as well as support their dealer and manufacturer customers.
And don’t worry about the providers of advice and the sellers of the product that’s being advised upon residing under the same ownership umbrella. CarMax ensures that Edmunds will operate independently, and will remain in its consumer-focused advisory capacity, as well as continuing to offer value to the aforementioned dealers and manufacturers. Advice articles like this one that encourage you to use the instant offer button to sell your car directly to CarMax are just a coincidence.
[Image: CarMax]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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Thanks Shappy, for corroborating our suspicions.
I’ve said it before but just put TTAC out of its misery already. It’s a case study in what happens when you sell out. I also can’t imagine it makes any money. Who even comes here to read reviews of MY2020 cars.