Cars.com hit a green wave on its first day on the New York Stock Exchange, with its stock price up more than six percent at close.
The automotive website was spun off from Tegna, a Virginia-based broadcast and digital media company. Cars.com CEO Alex Vetter said the spinoff will help his company pursue its growth plans more aggressively.
“Becoming a stand-alone, independent company gives us the freedom to identify and make our own decisions on investments that are best for Cars.com and our customers,” said CEO Alex Vetter. “Our focus is building and growing in ways that improve the consumer experience and support our customers’ business.”
Tegna was one of four companies that launched Cars.com as a joint venture in 1998. Tegna, then known as Gannett, bought out its fellow investors in 2014 in a deal that valued Cars.com at $2.5 billion. (Confusingly, the Gannett name was retained by a separate publishing business spun out from Tegna in 2015.)
Tegna also owns CareerBuilder.
One of Chicago’s earliest major digital ventures, Cars.com has helped shape the city’s tech scene for nearly 20 years. Vetter said Chicago’s business culture has helped shape his company as well.
“We are proud to be a founding member of the Chicago technology ecosystem and a pioneer in the digital automotive space,” said Vetter. “We’re a company of builders, innovators and doers and that spirit is inspired by Chicago.”
Doubling down on its Chicago roots, the company is moving into a startup-inspired office space at 300 South Riverside Plaza, right across the river from Willis Tower.
“We’re thrilled with the growing number of tech start-ups and the level of skilled talent in Chicago, and we are deepening that connection,” said Vetter. “The space is designed to support a lean agile approach to innovation. Our goal is to continue to attract Chicago’s top talent.”
Prior to the spinoff, Cars.com made a $650 million cash distribution to its former parent company. It also established new credit facilities that will allow it to borrow up to $900 million, which the company said it will use for acquisitions and organic growth.
At the time of the spinoff, shareholders of the parent company received Cars.com common stock at a rate of one Cars.com share per three shares in TEGNA.
Image via Cars.com.
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